Etymograph

English

Metis

Metis comes from French métis ‘mixed-race, halfbreed / half-breed’, and goes back to Proto-Italic *mikstos.

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*mikstosreconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmixtus‘mixed’
  3. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEmixtīcius‘of mixed race’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400mestis
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presentmétis‘mixed-race, halfbreed / half-breed’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1912Metis

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*mikstosreconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmixtus‘mixed’
  3. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEmixtīcius‘of mixed race’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400mestis
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presentmétis‘mixed-race, halfbreed / half-breed’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1912Metis

Earliest quotation: 1912, Eugène Sue, Works of Eugène Sue: The wandering Jew: “He is a Métis, that is, the son of…”

The story

Métis originally referred to Francophone and Cree-speaking descendants of the French-Catholic Red River Métis in Manitoba.

Linked words

through Latin mixtus ‘mixed’

mixture, 8 more

through Late Latin mixtīcius ‘of mixed race’

mestizo, 3 more

Another origin of Metis

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*meh₁-‘to measure’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*méh₁tis‘measurement’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*mḗtisreconstructed
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEΜῆτιςMêtis‘wisdom’
  5. EnglishtodayMetis

Today it means

name One of three recognized Aboriginal peoples of Canada, descendants of marriages of Cree, Ojibwa, Saulteaux, and Menominee Aboriginal people with French Canadians, Scots and English.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Italic *mikstos / Metis

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