by Dictionary Scoop
English is part of the Germanic language family, while French is a Romance language. At first glance, one would think that they don’t have much in common, right? But this is not the case; French has influenced our language in many ways, including our vocabulary. Today, ten common English words that have origins in the language of love. Allons-y! (Let’s go!)
1-Denim
“Denim” originally came from the French term Serge de Nîmes. Nîmes is a city in southern France, and serge refers to a type of fabric with a twilled weave. Thus, the term Serge de Nîmes was originally used to describe this particular fabric made in the French city.
But how did we go from Serge de Nîmes to “denim?? Well, when the fabric gained popularity in other countries, English speakers had trouble pronouncing the whole term, so it was gradually simplified, first to something like “serge deNîm” and finally to just “denim.”
By the 19th century, the English term we know today was fully integrated into our language.
2-Honesty
“Honesty” comes from the Old French word honesté, which refers to something noble, virtuous, or respectable. In turn, the French word derives from the Latin honestus, which was used to describe something honorable.
Between the 12th and 15th centuries, the Middle English took the term honesté from the French, retaining its meaning. However, by the 16th century, the English word had evolved into “honesty” and broadened its meaning. It came to represent not just honor and good morals but also truthfulness, sincerity, and genuine intentions.
3-Advice
The English word “advice” has quite a long history, originating from the Latin advisum, which meant “considered” or “deliberated.” This term evolved into the Old French noun avis, meaning “opinion” or “point of view.”
The Old French avis was borrowed into Middle English around the 13th century, and the expression at avis (meaning “in my opinion”) emerged. Over time, it transformed into “advice.”
By the 16th century, its meaning had shifted, evolving from simply an opinion to a suggestion offered by someone else.
4-Manicure
Personal care and beauty have been an important issue for people since ancient times. A very clear example of this is the word “manicure.”
What’s interesting about this term is how little it has changed over time. The Latin words manus (hand) and cura (care) came together to give rise to manicura, which was later adapted into French as manicure.
Around the 17th century, the tradition of hand care became more refined in Europe, especially among the privileged classes, making the term more widely known. By the 19th century, “manicure” was already present in the English language, without changing its form and retaining its meaning to this day.
5-Table
Today, the word “table” has several meanings: it can refer to the piece of furniture we use for dining, the flat surface where we chop vegetables, or even more abstract concepts like organizing data into rows and columns.
But to get to all this, the word had a long journey, starting with Latin. The term tabula in Latin meant simply “a flat piece of wood,” “board” or “plank.”
Tabula passed into Old French as table, maintaining at first its original definition. By the 12th century, Middle English adopted the term “table,” preserving its form while expanding its meaning.
6-Army
The Latin word arma meant “weapons,” plural. It was this form of the word that passed into Old French as armé, an adjective meaning “armed,” referring to a group of people armed for war. From armé, the noun armée arose, referring to the military force.
In the 13th century, armée passed into Middle English as armye, retaining its meaning. With the passage of time, the term evolved into “army.”
7-Money
Moneta was Latin for “coins.” This term was adapted in different ways to the Romance languages. For example, Spanish hardly modified the form, resulting in the present Spanish word moneda. The case of Old French was a little different, but not by much.
Moneta evolved into Old French as moneie, which then transitioned into Middle English as moneye around the 13th century. By this time, the word had expanded its definition, referring not only to coins but also to currency in general. Eventually, modern English modified the pronunciation of moneye, which ended up with the current “money.”
8-Soldier
Solidus was a Latin word that designated a specific type of gold coin used in the Empire. But what do coins have to do with soldiers?
Latin evolved into Romance languages, and this word passed into Old French as soudee, which specifically designated a payment given to a soldier. Over time, the French word changed in both structure and definition. Soudee transitioned to soudier, which referred to a soldier who fought professionally in an army, meaning he was paid for his service.
Middle English took that term from French, and its spelling eventually changed to “soldier.”
9-Debut
The word “debut” appears in many contexts: sports, cinema, theater, television, literature, and more. While this might surprise many, it has a very ancient origin.
What’s more interesting about this word is that its meaning has not changed much throughout history. In Latin, debutare already meant “to begin” or “to start.”
The term evolved into Old French as début, where its connotation shifted to something closer to a first performance or the first time in a particular practice. By the 19th century, the word was already in English as we know it today.
10-Beef
If you are a fan of meat (or etymology), you won’t want to miss the journey that the word “beef” took to become part of our language.
Latin used the word bovem to refer to cattle. Over time, this term evolved and was adapted to Old French as boef, which varied in meaning to specifically denote the meat from cattle.
In the 12th century, Middle English took boef and adapted it as befe or beef, refining its definition to refer to cattle meat prepared for consumption. By the 14th century, the word was well-established in our language.
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