Etymology

corsair

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Today it means: A French privateer, especially from the port of Saint-Malo. Full definition →

French corsaire ← Italian corsaro ← Medieval Latin cursārius
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The story

  1. Latincursus
  2. Medieval Latincursārius
  3. Italiancorsaro
  4. Frenchcorsaire
  5. English todaycorsair

Borrowed from French corsaire, from Medieval Latin cursārius (“pirate”), from Latin cursus (“course, a running; plunder, hostile inroad”). Doublet of courser and hussar.

Words from the same roots

Medieval Latincursārius all →

hussarcourser

Latincursus all →

coursecursivecursushussar

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.