Etymograph

English

affreux

Affreux comes from French affreux ‘frightful, causing fear’, from Old Occitan affre ‘horror’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *aibraz ‘horrible, terrible’.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*aibraz‘horrible, terrible’reconstructed
  2. Gothicc. 300–600*aifrstransliteratedGothic script *aifrs, a transliterationreconstructed
  3. Old Occitanc. 950–1500affre‘horror’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400same form
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presentaffres‘great fear’
  6. French, derivedc. 1600–presentaffreux‘frightful, causing fear’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1830same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*aibraz‘horrible, terrible’reconstructed
  2. Gothicc. 300–600*aifrstransliteratedGothic script *aifrs, a transliterationreconstructed
  3. Old Occitanc. 950–1500affre‘horror’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400same form
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presentaffres‘great fear’
  6. French, derivedc. 1600–presentaffreux‘frightful, causing fear’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1830same form

Earliest quotation: 1830, The Cambrian Quarterly Magazine and Celt: “And when I signified my intention of making a…”

Every English word from Proto-Germanic *aibraz

Today it means

noun A group of particularly brutal mercenaries who were active in Africa and Asia during the 1960s.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *aibraz / affreux

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