Etymology

Franciscan

Fran·cisc·an
F4R1A1N1C3I1S1C3A1N1

Today it means: A friar of the religious order founded by Saint Francis of Assisi in 1209, now known as the Order of the Friars Minor. Full definition →

Late Latin Franciscānus ← Latin -ānus
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The story

  1. Latin · derived from-ānus
  2. Late Latin · learned borrowing fromFranciscānus“(noun) friar of the order of Saint Francis; (adjective) of or from the order of Saint Francis”
  3. English todayFranciscan

Learned borrowing from Late Latin Franciscānus (“(noun) friar of the order of Saint Francis; (adjective) of or from the order of Saint Francis”) + English -an (suffix forming agent nouns; and meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). Franciscānus is derived from Franciscus (“the given name Francis, the name of Saint Francis of Assisi (c. 1181 – 1226)”) + Latin -ānus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’, denoting relationships of origin, position, or possession); and Franciscus from Francia (“region inhabited or ruled over by the Franka, Frankia”) (apparently a nickname from Francis’s father, an Italian merchant who worked in France) + -iscus (suffix forming adjectives).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.