“Crick”, “joke”, “guinea pig”… These words that we use every day have crossed borders before reaching us.
Some terms that have passed through have Latin, Greek or Germanic roots, and are therefore easily identifiable.
This is the case of the word "mannequin", from the Germanic meaning "little man" (via the Dutch "mannekijn"), which began to be used in the north of France in the 15th century to qualify a figurine.
To discover
Crosswords, arrow words, 7 Letters... Free to play anywhere, anytime with the Le Figaro Games app
Others, however, are less so.
Since the history of the French language is rich in borrowings from other idioms, we are not surprised to learn that English has offered us certain words, such as "kaki".
Who knows, however, that this term is derived from Hindi, itself taken from a Persian word meaning "dust".
Similarly, it is often ignored that “candle” (in Arabic “bugaya”) takes its name from the town in Algeria where the wax was imported.
Do you know that the "banker" and the "saltimbanque" originate from the word "banc" (from the Germanic "bank", "place where one trades, where one displays") because the two professions once had the same work tool?
Do you know the terms that we owe to Portuguese?
Those whose definition has changed in French?
Le Figaro
invites you to test your knowledge.
