Where does “couplet” come from?
Couplet derives from French couplet, a diminutive formation in Middle French using -et added to French couple, which comes from Latin copula meaning a bond or link, ultimately from Latin com- and aperē.
couplet (English): A pair of lines with rhyming end words; A pair of...
Definitions
- A pair of lines with rhyming end words; A pair of...
Ancestry of “couplet”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | couplet | verse |
| 2 | French | couple | two partners in a romantic or sexual... |
| 3 | Old French | couple | couple; sexual liaison |
| 4 | Vulgar Latin | copla | — |
| 5 | Latin | cōpula | a bond, tie, band or other connecting item |
| 6 | Latin | coapula | — |
| 7 | Latin | apio | dative singular of apium; ablative singular of... |
| 8 | Latin | apium | parsley; celery; genitive plural of apis |
| 9 | Latin | Apis | A seaport town of Egypt situated at the borders with Marmarica |
| 10 | Ancient Greek | Ἄπις | — |
| 11 | Coptic | ϩⲁⲡⲉ | the Apis bull, a bull worshipped as a herald of the gods (first Ptah, then Osiris, then Atum) |
| 12 | Egyptian | ḥp | the god Apis |