Etymograph

English

court

Court comes from Middle English court ‘a courtyard’, and goes back to Latin cohors.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcohors‘a court’
  2. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEcōrs
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400cort
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500court‘a courtyard’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1590same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcohors‘a court’
  2. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEcōrs
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400cort
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500court‘a courtyard’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1590same form

Earliest quotation: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto II: “No solace could her paramour entreat / Her once…”

Linked words

through Latin cohors ‘a court’

cohort, 3 more

Today it means

noun An enclosed space; a courtyard; an uncovered area shut in by the walls of a building, or by different buildings; also, a space opening from a street and nearly surrounded by houses; a blind alley.

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

Etymograph / Latin cohors / court

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