Etymograph

English

combat

Combat comes from Old French combatre ‘to combat’, and goes back to Latin battuō ‘to beat, strike’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbattuōas battuere‘to beat’
  2. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*combattere‘to combat’reconstructed
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400combatre‘to combat’
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600combat
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1671same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbattuōas battuere‘to beat’
  2. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*combattere‘to combat’reconstructed
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400combatre‘to combat’
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600combat
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1671same form

Earliest quotation: 1671, John Milton: “To combat with a blind man I disdain.”

The story

16th century, borrowed from Middle French combat, deverbal from Old French combatre, from Vulgar Latin *combattere, from Latin com- (‘with’) + battuere (‘to beat, strike’).

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰh₂- ‘to stab, dig’

bed, fossil, 13 more

through Latin battuō ‘to beat, strike’

battle, battery, bat, batten, 6 more

Today it means

noun A battle, a fight (often one in which weapons are used).

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

Etymograph / Latin battuō / combat

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