Where does “qu’est-ce que c’est” come from?
qu’est-ce que c’est (French) comes from French c’est, from French cé, from Spanish éste, from Latin iste, from Latin hāc, from Latin hīc, from Latin heic, from Latin hic — whale, sea monster; abyss.
qu’est-ce que c’est (French): what is that? what is this? what is it? what does that mean?
Definitions
- what is that? what is this? what is it? what does that mean?
Ancestry of “qu’est-ce que c’est”, step by step
qu’est-ce que c’est traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via French c’est
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | c’est | it is (used to define the preceding word) |
| 2 | French | cé | The name of the Latin-script letter C |
| 3 | Spanish | éste | this one |
| 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 |
via French qu’est-ce que
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | qu’est-ce que | what, what is it that used as an interrogative for a direct object |