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
Ancestry of “cette”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Old French | ceste | — |
| 2 | Vulgar Latin | eccu ista | — |
| 3 | Latin | (ec)cu(m) ista(m) | — |
| 4 | Latin | iste | that ; those; that one ; that ; those ones ;... |
| 5 | Latin | hāc | — |
| 6 | Latin | hīc | — |
| 7 | Latin | heic | — |
| 8 | Latin | hic | this; these; this one; this ; these ones ; these... |
| 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 |
Words derived from “cette”