English
cirque
Cirque comes from French cirque ‘circular arena’, and goes back to Latin circus ‘circle, ring’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcircus‘circle, ring’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentcirque‘circular arena’
- Englishearliest quotation 1722cirque
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcircus‘circle, ring’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentcirque‘circular arena’
- Englishearliest quotation 1722cirque
Earliest quotation: 1722, Laurence Echard, London: Printed for Jacob Tonson: “Nero exhibited theſe Spectacles in his own Gardens, impiouſly…”
The story
Borrowed from French cirque (‘circular arena; cirque’), from Latin circus (‘circle, ring’), from Ancient Greek κίρκος (kírkos, “circle, ring; racecourse, circus”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (‘to bend; to turn’).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- ‘to bend’
short, across, share, card, cross, cancer, screen, score, shirt, curve, scare, crucial, carnival, curb, scar, cancellation, scrutiny, shrine, skirt, crest, corona, shear, scorpion, incarceration, shred, carnage, raffle, corolla, scorn, shrewd, crux, shard, carnal, carcinoma, riddance, crepe, carnivorous, corgi, ruck, shrew, 112 more
through Latin circus ‘circle, ring’
circle, circuit, circulation, circus, circa, circulate, circulatory, 14 more
Today it means
noun A Roman circus.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin circus / cirque