Etymograph

English

battement

Battement comes from French battement ‘beating, hitting’, from battre ‘to beat’, and ultimately from Latin battere.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbattere
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400batre‘to beat’
  3. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600battre‘to fight’
  4. Frenchc. 1600–presentsame form‘to beat’
  5. French, derivedc. 1600–presentbattement‘beating, hitting’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1796same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbattere
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400batre‘to beat’
  3. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600battre‘to fight’
  4. Frenchc. 1600–presentsame form‘to beat’
  5. French, derivedc. 1600–presentbattement‘beating, hitting’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1796same form

Earliest quotation: 1796, Erasmus Darwin, Zoonomia: “Secondly, though there is an audible vertigo, as is…”

Linked words

through Latin battere

abate, abattoir, 9 more

through Old French batre ‘to beat’

bat, bate, 5 more

Today it means

noun A ballet move involving a beating action with an extended leg

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

Etymograph / Latin battere / battement

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