Where does “cette” come from?
cette (French) comes from Old French ceste, from Vulgar Latin eccu ista, from Latin (ec)cu(m) ista(m), from Latin iste, from Latin hāc, from Latin hīc, from Latin heic, from Latin hic — whale, sea monster; abyss.
cette (French): feminine singular of ce
Definitions
- feminine singular of ce
Ancestry of “cette”, step by step
cette traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Old French ceste
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old French | ceste | — |
| 2 | Vulgar Latin | eccu ista | — |
| 3 | Latin | (ec)cu(m) ista(m) | — |
| 4 | Latin | iste | that near you; those in the plural |
| 5 | Latin | hāc | this way; these; in this place (or way) |
| 6 | Latin | hīc | this; these in the plural |
| 7 | Latin | heic | — |
| 8 | Latin | hic | this; these in the plural |
| 9 | Proto-Italic | hek(e) | — |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | gʰi-ḱe | this, here |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱe | Deictic particle, here; Post-positional... |
| 12 | Middle English | kyt | — |
| 13 | Russian | кит | whale; genitive plural of ки́та |
| 14 | Old Church Slavonic | китъ | whale |
| 15 | Ancient Greek | κῆτος | whale, sea monster; abyss |