Etymology

seneschal

sen·e·schal
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Today it means: A steward, particularly (historical) one in charge of a medieval nobleman's estate. Full definition →

Middle English seneschal ← Old French seneschal ← Medieval Latin siniscalcus
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The story

  1. French · derived fromsénéchal
  2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*siniz“senior”
  3. Proto-Germanic · derived from*siniskalkaz
  4. Frankish · derived from*siniskalk
  5. Medieval Latin · derived fromsiniscalcus
  6. Old French · derived fromseneschal
  7. Middle English · inherited fromseneschal
  8. English todayseneschal

From Middle English seneschal (recorded in English since 1393), from Old French seneschal, from Medieval Latin siniscalcus, from Frankish *siniskalk, from Proto-Germanic *siniskalkaz, from Proto-Germanic *siniz (“senior”) + *skalkaz (“servant”); latter term as in marshal. As an officer of the French crown, via French sénéchal.

Words from the same roots

Frenchsénéchal all →

Senechal

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.