Where does “Montréal” come from?
Montréal (Norwegian Bokmål) comes from French Montréal, from Middle French Montreal, from Middle French real, from Old French reel, from Latin reālis, from Latin rēs, from Latin vindicatio, from Latin vindicō — limestone; chalk; the finish line.
Ancestry of “Montréal”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | Montréal | — |
| 2 | Middle French | Montreal | at its confluence with the Ottawa River |
| 3 | Middle French | real | royal; Alternative form of royal |
| 4 | Old French | reel | — |
| 5 | Latin | reālis | real |
| 6 | Latin | rēs | thing, object, stuff |
| 7 | Latin | vindicatio | civil lawsuit; protection, defence; vindication;... |
| 8 | Latin | vindicō | to lay claim to as one's own (often with sibi) |
| 9 | Latin | vindex | claimant, vindicator |
| 10 | Latin | dīcō | to say, talk, speak, utter, mention |
| 11 | Latin | -tiō | tion, -ation, -ing |
| 12 | Latin | dissertātiō | (spoken) dissertation, discourse, disquisition |
| 13 | Latin | dissertus | arranged, disposed; explained |
| 14 | Latin | disserere | second-person singular future passive indicative... |
| 15 | Latin | dis- | asunder, apart, in two; reversal, removal;... |
| 16 | Latin | calceus | shoe |
| 17 | Latin | calx | limestone; chalk; the finish line |