The etymology of fencing was a trade (aussie.zone)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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An interesting bit of etymology that I learnt recently.

The English word "fencing" (as in sword fighting) comes from English "defence", from Old French "defens", from Latin "defendere", meaning "to ward off, defend".

The French word for fencing is "escrime". The Italian and Spanish words are also close cognates with French. "Escrime" comes from Old French "escremir", from Frankish "*skirmjan".

That means English, a Germanic language, gets its word from Latin, a Romance language.

And the Romance languages of French, Spanish, and Italian get their word from Frankish, a Germanic language.

Essentially, the Romance and Germanic language families did a trade.

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[-] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

Well, "skirmjan" has still made its way into English I believe, isn't it the etymology for "skirmish"?

[-] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

And "defendere" still made its way to French ("défense") and other romance languages.

this post was submitted on 01 Apr 2025

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