Etymology

machicolation

ma·chi·col·a·tion
M3A1C3H4I1C3O1L1A1T1I1O1N1

Today it means: An opening between corbels that support a projecting parapet, or in the floor of a gallery or the roof of a portal, of a fortified building from which missiles can be shot or heated items dropped upon assailants attacking the base of the walls. Full definition →

Late Latin machicol(amentum) ← Old French macher ← Latin -mentum
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Latin · derived from-mentum
  2. Old French · derived frommacher“to chew; to crush”
  3. Late Latin · derived frommachicol(amentum)“machicolation”
  4. English todaymachicolation

From Late Latin machicol(amentum) (“machicolation”) + -ation (suffix indicating an action or process). Machicolamentum may be derived from Old French macher (“to chew; to crush”) (modern French mâcher) + col (“neck”) + Latin -mentum (suffix indicating an instrument or medium, or the result of something). The English word is cognate with Middle English machecolled (“having machicolations”), machecolling (“act of constructing machicolation; the openings making up the machicolation”), Middle French machecoleis (modern French mâchicoulis (“machicolation”)), Latin machecollum (“machicolation”), Occitan machacol.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.