noctule

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*nókʷts
2. Latin · derived fromnox“night”
3. Classical Latin · derived fromnoctua“night-owl”
4. Late Latin · derived fromnoctula
5. Italian · derived fromnottola
6. French · borrowed fromnoctule
7. English todaynoctule

Borrowed from French noctule, a latinised scientific borrowing of the Italian nottola (refers to various birds or bats), inherited from Late Latin noctula, diminutive of Classical Latin noctua (“night-owl”), ultimately from Latin nox (“night”), from Proto-Indo-European *nókʷts. Per the OED, first attested in English in 1771.

Words from the same roots