English
courb
Courb comes from Middle French courber, from Latin curvō ‘to crook, bend, bow, curve’, and ultimately from curvus.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcurvus‘bent, crooked, curved’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcurvō‘to crook, bend, bow, curve’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600courber
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500courben
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1385courb
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcurvus‘bent, crooked, curved’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcurvō‘to crook, bend, bow, curve’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600courber
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500courben
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1385courb
Earliest quotation: c. 1385, William Langland, Piers Plowman: “Thanne I courbed on my knees · and cryed…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- ‘to cut off, sever’
short, across, share, card, cross, cancer, screen, shirt, circle, score, circuit, crucial, scare, circus, circulation, skirt, carnival, scar, cancellation, scrutiny, shrine, crest, circa, shear, incarceration, shred, carnage, coronary, raffle, circulate, corona, scorpion, carcinoma, shrewd, crux, shard, carnal, cirque, corolla, riddance, 116 more
through Proto-Italic *korwos
through Latin curvus ‘bent, crooked, curved’
through Latin curvō ‘to crook, bend, bow, curve’
Today it means
verb To bend; to bow.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin curvus / courb