Where does “memoir” come from?
Memoir comes from French mémoire, from Latin memoria meaning "memory," formed with the Latin suffix -ia, from Ancient Greek -ία, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European -h₂.
memoir (English): An autobiography; a book describing the personal...
Definitions
- An autobiography; a book describing the personal...
Ancestry of “memoir”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | mémoire | memory; memo; dissertation, paper |
| 2 | Middle French | memoire | memory |
| 3 | Old French | memoire | memory |
| 4 | Latin | memoria | memory; the ability to remember; a remembrance, a... |
| 5 | Latin | -ia | Used to form a feminine abstract noun, usually... |
| 6 | Latin | -ius | forming adjectives from nouns; nominative neuter... |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | -jōs | Forms comparative adjectives |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -yós | Creates adjectives from noun or verb stems |