Portuguese words from Frankish
7 Portuguese words with Frankish in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages.
banco
For the seat, it is borrowed from Frankish *bank (“bench fixed to the wall along a room”), according to Houaiss; Machado and Aurélio speak of a Germanic word that came into Vulgar Latin and then…
branco
It is a Germanic word, according to Wiktionary borrowed from Frankish *blank (“shining, white”), which reached Portuguese through the Medieval Latin blancus. Houaiss, Cunha and Machado derive it…
ganhar
The medieval forms are Old Galician-Portuguese gãar, Old Galician-Portuguese gaanar, Old Galician-Portuguese guaannar, Old Galician-Portuguese guaanhar and Old Galician-Portuguese gaanhar, all of…
guerra
It is borrowed from Frankish *werʀu (“riot, quarrel”), a Germanic word that Medieval Latin wrote werra and guerra. Houaiss calls it West Germanic, with the sense “discord, revolt, fight”; it spread…
lote
It is borrowed from French lot (“share, portion”), which is from Frankish *lot. The French word is recorded from about 1140, and the Frankish form is reconstructed from Gothic 𐌷𐌻𐌰𐌿𐍄𐍃 (hlauts, “lot…
orgulho
It is borrowed from Catalan orgull (“pride”), written Old Galician-Portuguese orgullo in the 13th century. Whether it came straight from Catalan or through Spanish orgullo is not settled: Cunha and…
roubar
It is inherited from Late Latin raubō (“to rob, plunder”), written Old Galician-Portuguese roubar in the oldest texts. Houaiss, Nascentes and the DLP describe it as a Germanic verb ⟨raubōn⟩ “to…