Where does “avant-guerre” come from?
avant-guerre (French) comes from French guerre, from Middle French guerre, from Old French guerre, from Late Latin werra, from Frankish *werʀu, from Proto-Indo-European wers-, from Proto-Indo-European wer- — to burn; to cover, heed, notice; squirrel.
avant-guerre (French): pre-war; The pre-war period
Definitions
- pre-war; The pre-war period
Ancestry of “avant-guerre”, step by step
avant-guerre traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via French guerre
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | guerre | war |
| 2 | Middle French | guerre | war |
| 3 | Old French | guerre | war; Alternative form of gaire |
| 4 | Late Latin | werra | — |
| 5 | Frankish | *werʀu | — |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | wers- | to wipe; peak, height |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | wer- | to burn; to cover, heed, notice; squirrel |
via French avant
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | avant | beforehand; earlier |
| 2 | Latin | ante | before, in front, forwards; before; before,... |
| 3 | Ancient Greek | κλίσις | bending, inclination; a lying down; a place for... |
| 4 | Ancient Greek | -σῐς | "suffix forming nouns" |
| 5 | Ancient Greek | -τις | retained after dentals |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | -tis | Derives abstract/action nouns from verb roots |