Etymograph

English

calque

Calque comes from French calquer ‘to copy, trace’, from Italian calcare ‘to stomp, to tread’, and ultimately from Latin calx ‘heel’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcalx‘heel’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcalcōas calcāre‘to tread’
  3. Italianc. 1300–presentcalcare‘to stomp, to tread’
  4. Frenchc. 1600–presentcalquer‘to copy, trace’
  5. French, derivedc. 1600–presentcalqueliterally ‘copy, tracing’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2005calque

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcalx‘heel’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcalcōas calcāre‘to tread’
  3. Italianc. 1300–presentcalcare‘to stomp, to tread’
  4. Frenchc. 1600–presentcalquer‘to copy, trace’
  5. French, derivedc. 1600–presentcalqueliterally ‘copy, tracing’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2005calque

Earliest quotation: 2005, William Safire, Kifaya!: “David S. Powers, professor of Islamic history and law…”

The story

From French calque (“calque”, literally “copy, tracing”), from calquer (‘to copy, trace’) (whence also calk), itself borrowed from Italian calcare, from Latin calcāre (‘to tread’).

Linked words

through Latin calx ‘heel’

chalk, calcium, calculus, causeway, recalcitrant, calcareous, calcite, caulk, calzone, 34 more

through Latin calcō ‘to tread’

counterpoint, quilt, inculcate, 9 more

Today it means

noun A word or phrase in a language formed by word-for-word or morpheme-by-morpheme translation of a word in another language.

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

Etymograph / Latin calx / calque

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