Where does “sans” come from?
sans (Middle English) comes from Old French sens, from Latin sēnsus, from Dutch census, from Latin census, from Latin censeo, from Proto-Italic kensēō, from Proto-Italic kensējō, from Proto-Indo-European ḱens-éh₁-ye-ti — to cover, conceal; hornless.
sans (Middle English): Alternative form of saunz
Definitions
- Alternative form of saunz
Ancestry of “sans”, step by step
sans traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.
via Old French sens
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old French | sens | reason; ability to reason or think |
| 2 | Latin | sēnsus | faculty or power of perceiving; perception, feeling, sensation, sense |
| 3 | Dutch | census | a census |
| 4 | Latin | census | census, a registering of the populace and their... |
| 5 | Latin | censeo | I give an opinion; I think, suppose or judge; I... |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | kensēō | to give an opinion |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | kensējō | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱens-éh₁-ye-ti | — |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱens- | to announce, to proclaim; to put in order |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱem- | to cover, conceal; hornless |
via Middle English saunz
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | saunz | without, lacking, sans |
| 2 | Old French | senz | without |
| 3 | Latin | absentia | absence |
| 4 | Latin | absēns | absent, missing, away, away from, distant, gone, gone away |
| 5 | Latin | absum | I am away, I am absent, I am distant |
| 6 | Latin | ab- | from, away, away from; off; at a distance |
| 7 | Latin | āb | from, away from, out of |
| 8 | Proto-Germanic | *ab | — |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | apó | — |
via Old French sans
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old French | sans | — |