English
oeuvre
Oeuvre comes from French œuvre ‘work, book, piece’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₃ep-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃ep-‘work’next step skipped: Latin opus
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEopera
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400uevre‘a work’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentœuvre‘work, book, piece’
- Englishearliest quotation 1990oeuvre
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃ep-‘work’next step skipped: Latin opus
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEopera
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400uevre‘a work’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentœuvre‘work, book, piece’
- Englishearliest quotation 1990oeuvre
Earliest quotation: 1990, Bill Watterson: “(Calvin) This piece is about the inadequacy of traditional…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₃ep- ‘work’
office, official, bus, copy, cooperation, operative, cooperate, opus, omnibus, copious, opulence, officiate, officiant, officious, omnivore, 20 more
through Latin opera
Today it means
noun A work of art, music or literature.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₃ep- / oeuvre