Etymology

excurse

ex·curse
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Today it means: A fuller discussion (usually in a separate section at the end of a chapter or book) of a particular part of the text of a work, especially a Bible commentary or classical Greek or Latin text. Full definition →

Latin excursu ← Proto-Italic *korsō ← Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥séti
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₁éǵʰ
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₁éǵʰs
  3. Proto-Italic*eks
  4. Latinex
  5. Latinex-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*ḱers-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*ḱr̥séti
  8. Proto-Italic*korsō
  9. Latincurrō
  10. Latinexcurrō
  11. Latinexcursu
  12. English todayexcurse

The noun is a learned borrowing from Latin excursus (“excursion; raid, sally, sortie”), a verbal noun from excurrō (“to run out; to sally forth”) + -sus (suffix forming verbal nouns), with the verb derived from ex- (prefix meaning ‘away; out’) + currō (“to run; to move, proceed, travel; etc.”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱers- (“to run”)). Doublet of excursus. The verb is probably derived partly: * from Latin excurs-, the perfect passive participial stem of excurrō (see above); and * from the noun.

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*ḱers- all →

coursehorserushhurryrecurexcursusCuroniansupracargo

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.