motte

motte · noun¹

1. Old French · derived frommotte“mound, hillock”
2. French · borrowed frommotte
3. English todaymotte

From French motte, from Anglo-Norman/Old French motte (“mound, hillock”). Doublet of moat.

motte · noun²

Alternative forms.

Motte · proper noun³

1. Gaulish · derived from*mutt
2. Medieval Latin · derived frommota“fortified height”
3. Old French · derived frommot, motte“embankment, hill, mound”
4. English todayMotte

* As a French, Walloon, and West Flemish surname, from Old French mot, motte (“embankment, hill, mound”), from Medieval Latin mota (“fortified height”), which could be of Celtic origin and from Gaulish *mutt, *mutta (compare Welsh mwd (“vault, arch, canopy”), Irish móta (“moat”), though this itself could have been borrowed from the English) or otherwise of Germanic origin and from the root of mud. Compare Delamotte, Demotte, Lamotte. * As an English surname, variant of Mott. * As a German surname, perhaps from Motten in Bavaria, first attested 837, from the personal name Moto (compare *mōd (“courage, bravery”)).

Words from the same roots