Where does “amends” come from?
Amends comes from French amende, meaning a monetary penalty or fine imposed as compensation.
amends (English): plural of amend; Compensation for a loss or...
Definitions
- plural of amend; Compensation for a loss or...
Ancestry of “amends”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | amendes | second-person singular present indicative of... |
| 2 | French | amende | fine; first-person singular present indicative of... |
| 3 | French | amender | to amend |
| 4 | Middle French | amender | to improve; to fine |
| 5 | Old French | amender | to correct; to set right; to fix; to repair; to... |
| 6 | Latin | ēmendō | to free from faults, correct, improve, remedy, amend, revise, cure |
| 7 | Latin | ex | A name of the letter "X"; out of, from |
| 8 | Latin | commūnicō | to impart, share |
| 9 | Latin | commūnis | common, commonplace, ordinary, general, universal, shared, shared alike, of both sides, belonging to two or more together |
| 10 | Old Latin | com(m)oinis | — |
| 11 | Proto-Italic | kommoinis | common |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱom-moy-ni- | held in common |
| 13 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱóm | beside, near, by, with |
| 14 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱe | Deictic particle, here; Post-positional... |
| 15 | Middle English | kyt | — |
| 16 | Russian | кит | whale; genitive plural of ки́та |
| 17 | Old Church Slavonic | китъ | whale |
| 18 | Ancient Greek | κῆτος | whale, sea monster; abyss |