saltire

The story

1. Latin · derived fromsaltāre“to dance, to jump”
2. Old French · derived fromsautoir“stile, saltire”
3. Middle English · inherited fromsawtoure
4. English todaysaltire

From Middle English sawtoure, from Old French sautoir (“stile, saltire”) (compare French sautoir (“saltire”)), from sauter (“to jump, to leap”) + -oir (subject forming nouns denoting physical objects from verbs), from Latin saltāre (“to dance, to jump”) + -orium, -oria.