Where does “les” come from?
les (Middle French) comes from Old French les, from Latin illōs, from Latin ille, from Latin olle, from Proto-Italic *olnos.
les (Middle French): the
Ancestry of “les”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Old French | les | the |
| 2 | Latin | illōs | — |
| 3 | Latin | ille | that; those; "; demonstrative pronoun "; that... |
| 4 | Latin | olle | Archaic form of ille |
| 5 | Proto-Italic | *olnos | — |