Where does “malheur” come from?
malheur (French) comes from French heur, from Old French eür, from Latin augurium, from Latin augur, from Latvian augos, from Proto-Indo-European h₂ewg-, from Proto-Indo-European h₂weg-, from Proto-Indo-European h₂ug-.
malheur (French): sadness, unhappiness; misfortune
Definitions
- sadness, unhappiness; misfortune
Ancestry of “malheur”, step by step
malheur traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via French heur
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | heur | chance; fortune |
| 2 | Old French | eür | Alternative form of eur |
| 3 | Latin | augurium | augury; divination, prediction; omen, portent |
| 4 | Latin | augur | augur (priest, diviner, or soothsayer, one who foretold the future in part by interpreting the song and flight of birds) |
| 5 | Latvian | augos | locative plural form of augs; locative plural... |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | h₂ewg- | to increase, to enlarge |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | h₂weg- | to increase, to enlarge |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | h₂ug- | — |
via French mal
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | mal | trouble, difficulty; pain; evil |
| 2 | Old French | mal | evilly; badly; poorly; evil |
| 3 | Latin | malleus | hammer, mallet; a disease of animals; the... |
| 4 | Proto-Indo-European | melh₂-no- | — |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | melh₂- | to grind, to crush |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | mel- | soft; tender; weak; to deceive; to rub |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | mey- | to strengthen; to bind; to change, exchange |