Where does “butte” come from?
butte (Middle English) comes from French but, from French boire, from Middle French boire, from Old French boivre, from Latin bibere, from Latin bibō, from Latin -ilis, from Proto-Italic -elis — Forms agent nouns from verbal roots.
butte (Middle English): goal, mark, butt of land; leather bottle
Definitions
- goal, mark, butt of land; leather bottle
Ancestry of “butte”, step by step
butte traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via French but
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | but | aim; goal; third-person singular past historic of... |
| 2 | French | boire | to drink |
| 3 | Middle French | boire | to drink |
| 4 | Old French | boivre | to drink; a drink |
| 5 | Latin | bibere | third-person plural perfect active indicative of... |
| 6 | Latin | bibō | to drink |
| 7 | Latin | -ilis | -ile |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | -elis | — |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -elis | — |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | -lós | Forms agent nouns from verbal roots |