English
jalouse
Jalouse comes from Old French jalouser.
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400jalouser
- Scotsc. 1450–presentjalouse‘to guess, suspect, infer, be suspicious of, to have doubts or suspicions about, surmise’
- Englishearliest quotation 1885same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400jalouser
- Scotsc. 1450–presentjalouse‘to guess, suspect, infer, be suspicious of, to have doubts or suspicions about, surmise’
- Englishearliest quotation 1885same form
Earliest quotation: 1885, Sir Richard Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night: “When my two sisters (these two bitches, O Commander…”
The story
The sense "to be jealous of" came about as a misunderstanding by southern writers, from the similarity to jealousy.
Every English word from Old French jalouser
Today it means
verb To suspect.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old French jalouser / jalouse