Where does “battle” come from?
Battle comes from Old French bataille, derived from Old French -ier and Latin -are, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European bʰew-.
battle (English): A contest, a struggle; A general action, fight,...
Definitions
- A contest, a struggle; A general action, fight,...
Ancestry of “battle”, step by step
battle traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.
via Middle English batel
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | batel | Alternative form of batayle; flourishing |
| 2 | Old English | batol | improving, tending to be good |
| 3 | Old English | batian | to fatten, to get fatter; to improve, to get... |
| 4 | Old English | -ol | Used to form suffixes denoting inclination or... |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | -ulaz | Forms adjectives from verbs meaning "doing" or... |
via Middle English batell
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | batell | Alternative form of batayle; Alternative form of... |
| 2 | Old French | bataille | battle |
| 3 | Latin | battālia | — |
| 4 | Latin | battuō | to beat, hit, pound, beat up, strike |
via Middle English batayle
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | batayle | An extended fight, war or armed contest; battling... |