Etymograph

English

patrol

Patrol comes from Old French patrouille, from Vulgar Latin *patta ‘paw, foot’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *paþjaną.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*paþjanąreconstructed
  2. Frankishc. 250–700*patta‘paw, sole of the foot’reconstructed
  3. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CEsame form‘paw, foot’reconstructed
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400patrouille
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presentsame form
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1899patrol

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*paþjanąreconstructed
  2. Frankishc. 250–700*patta‘paw, sole of the foot’reconstructed
  3. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CEsame form‘paw, foot’reconstructed
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400patrouille
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presentsame form
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1899patrol

Earliest quotation: 1899, Louis Becke, Walter Jeffery: “The watch consisted of twelve convicts—men selected for their…”

The story

From French patrouille, from Old French patrouille, patouille (“a night-watch”, literally “a tramping about”), from patrouiller, patouiller, patoiller (‘to paddle or pudder in water, dabble with the feet, begrime, besmear’), from patte, pate (‘paw, foot of an animal’), from Vulgar Latin *patta (‘paw, foot’), from Frankish *patta (‘paw, sole of the foot’), from Proto-Germanic *paþjaną, *paþōną (‘to walk, tread, go, step, pace’), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pent-, *(s)pat- (‘path; to walk’), a variant of Proto-Indo-European *pent-, *pat- (‘path; to go’); see find.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *pent- ‘to pass’

find, path, pad, faze, pontiff, sputnik, pontoon, pontifical, pons, pontifex, 14 more

through Vulgar Latin *patta ‘paw, foot’

patten, panton, 2 more

Another origin of patrol

  1. Old Frenchc. 842–1400patrouiller‘to paddle, paw about, patrol’
  2. Frenchc. 1600–presentsame form‘to patrol’
  3. Englishtodaypatrol

Today it means

noun A going of the rounds along the chain of sentinels and between the posts, by a guard, usually consisting of three or four men, to insure greater security from attacks on the outposts.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *paþjaną / patrol

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