Where does “motte” come from?

motte (English) comes from French motte, from Old French mote, from Medieval Latin mota, from Frankish *mot, from Proto-Germanic *motta, from Proto-Germanic mutô, from Proto-Indo-European (s)mut- — dark, dirty.

motte (English): A raised earth mound, often topped with a wooden...

Definitions

  1. A raised earth mound, often topped with a wooden...

Ancestry of “motte”, step by step

motte traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via French motte

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Frenchmottemotte; clod, lump of earth; block
2Old Frenchmotemound, embankment
3Medieval Latinmotaa mound, hill; nominative feminine singular of...
4Frankish*mot
5Proto-Germanic*motta
6Proto-Germanicmutô
7Proto-Indo-European(s)mut-dark, dirty

via Old French mot

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Frenchmotword; Alternative form of molt
2Late Latinmuttumsound; A mutter, a grunt
3Latinmuttirepresent active infinitive of muttiō; mutter, make...

Words derived from “motte

Every word from Proto-Indo-European (s)mut-