french · verb1
- Old English · inherited fromFrencisc“of the Franks, Frankish, French”
- Middle English · inherited fromFrench
- English todayfrench
From Middle English French, Frensch, Frensh, from Old English Frencisc (“of the Franks, Frankish, French”), from Franca (“a Frank”). Compare Old High German Franko (“a Frank”), akin to Old English franca (“javelin, spear”), from the use of such weapons by the Franks.
French · proper noun, noun, adjective, verb2
- Proto-Germanic*frankô
- Proto-West Germanic*Frankō
- Proto-West Germanic*Frankisk
- Old EnglishFrencisċ
- Middle EnglishFrensch
- English todayFrench
Inherited from Middle English Frenche, Frensch, Frensc, Frenshe, Frenk, Franche, from Old English Frenċisċ (“Frankish, French”), from Proto-West Germanic *Frankisk (“Frankish”) cognates and miscellany Doublet of Frankish; piecewise doublet of Francis, Franz, and Francisco, which are derived from Late Latin Franciscus equivalent to Frank + -ish (compare Frankish). Cognate with Middle Low German vranksch, frenkisch, vrenkesch, vrenksch (“Frankish, French”), Middle High German vrenkisch, vrensch ("Frankish, Franconian; > German fränkisch (“Frankish, Franconian”)), Danish fransk (“French”), Swedish fransk, fransysk (“French”), Icelandic franska (“French”). In reference to vulgar language, from expressions such as pardon my French in the early 19th century, originally in reference to actual (but often mildly impolite) French expressions by the upper class, subsequently adopted ironically by the lower class for English curse words under the charitable conceit that the listener would not be familiar with them. In reference to vermouth, a shortened form of French vermouth, distinguished as usually being drier than Italian vermouth.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.