Where does “à” come from?

à (French) comes from English avie, from French envie, from Latin invidia, from Latin invidus, from Latin invideo, from Latin īn-, from Latin în, from Latin en — in.

à (French): to; on the, to; at

Definitions

  1. to; on the, to; at

Ancestry of “à”, step by step

à traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.

via English avie

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Englishavieemulously
2Frenchenviedesire, lust, urge; appetite, craving; envy
3Latininvidiaenvy, grudge, jealousy, prejudice, spite; an...
4Latininvidusenvious; hostile, inimical
5LatininvideoI look askance or maliciously at, cast an evil...
6Latinīn-un-, non-, not
7Latinînin, at, on, upon, from (space)
8Latinenlookǃ beholdǃ; reallyǃ?; come onǃ
9Proto-Italicenin
10Proto-Indo-Europeanh₁énin

via Middle French a

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Frenchato; towards; third-person singular present...
2Old Frenchato; towards; belonging to
3LatinA
4Etruscan𐌀and, also
5Ancient Greekᾱ̔
6Phoenician𐤀ox; aleph; alef
7Egyptian𓃾

via Latin Ad

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1LatinAdtoward, to
2Latinilliche, she, it, yonder, that, overthere; in that...
3Latinillethat; those; "; demonstrative pronoun "; that...
4LatinolleArchaic form of ille
5Proto-Italic*olnosthat

Words derived from “à

Every word from Proto-Indo-European h₁énEvery word from Latin īn-Every word from Proto-Italic en