English
barrette
Barrette comes from French barrette ‘small bar’, and goes back to Vulgar Latin *barra ‘barrier’.
- Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*barra‘barrier’next step skipped: Frankish *bara
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400barre‘beam, bar, gate, barrier’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600same form
- Frenchc. 1600–presentsame form‘a bar’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentbarrette‘small bar’
- Englishearliest quotation 1960same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*barra‘barrier’next step skipped: Frankish *bara
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400barre‘beam, bar, gate, barrier’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600same form
- Frenchc. 1600–presentsame form‘a bar’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentbarrette‘small bar’
- Englishearliest quotation 1960same form
Earliest quotation: 1960, John Updike, Run': “Growing sleepy, Rabbit stops before midnight at a roadside…”
Formed from -ette
The story
Borrowed from French barrette, from barre (‘a bar’) + -ette, literally a small bar.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- ‘to bear, carry’
different, offer, difference, birth, transfer, reference, broad, bear, suffer, translation, prefer, relative, fortune, bread, extraordinary, burden, relation, differ, frustration, fury, relate, referendum, fertility, translate, bore, borne, breeze, referee, fertile, barn, baron, berth, broom, extravagant, bark, phosphorus, phosphate, euphoria, defer, confer, 157 more
through Vulgar Latin *barra ‘barrier’
through Old French barre ‘beam, bar, gate, barrier’
through French barre ‘a bar’
Today it means
noun A clasp or clip for gathering and holding the hair.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Vulgar Latin *barra / barrette