Etymologically
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1300s

Old French words first recorded in the 14th century

5 Old French words whose earliest known written record dates from the 14th century, earliest first. Words dated only to part of the century follow the ones with a year.

  1. preferer

    1313–1314

    It is borrowed from Latin praeferō (“to carry in front; to prefer”). The Latin verb is formed prae- (“before”) + ferō (“to carry”), continuing Proto-Italic *praiferō; the present stem of the simple…

  2. differer

    1314

    It is borrowed from Latin differō (“to carry apart; to differ; to put off”), taken over with a change of conjugation. Bloch and Wartburg note that the Latin verb already had both of the senses the…

  3. motif

    1314

    It is borrowed from Late Latin mōtīvus (“relating to movement, mobile”), formed on mōtus, the supine of moveō (“to move”). The TLFi dates the Late Latin adjective to the 3rd or 4th century, and…

  4. enbesiler

    1321–1322

    It is formed from Old French en- + besillier (“to ill-treat, destroy”). The simple verb meant to ill-treat, torment, wound or massacre, and to ravage, and is recorded from the 13th to the early 15th…

  5. variant

    1382

    It is the present participle, used as an adjective, from Old French varier (“to change, vary”). The verb was borrowed in the 12th century from Latin variō (“to diversify, change”), which comes from…

All Old French words by century →