langage (Middle English)

Where does "langage" come from?

The Middle English noun 'langage' originated from the Old French 'language'[1]. This Old French term was derived from the Vulgar Latin '*linguāticum'[1][2], which combined the Latin 'lingua' meaning 'tongue' with the noun forming suffix '-āticum'[6]. The root 'lingua' itself traces back through the older Latin form 'dingua'[4][7] to the Proto-Italic '*denɣwā'[5][7] and ultimately to the Proto-Indo-European '*dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s'[4][5]. The meaning evolved from a simple reference to 'tongue' or 'speech' to encompass broader concepts like 'dialect' and even the people of a shared 'country'[1].

Open questions

The transition from the initial d consonant in the root to the l consonant seen in lingua is considered either a borrowing from another Italic dialect or a folk etymological shift influenced by the verb lingō which means to lick. [4]

Full etymology tree

langage (Middle English), 'language, tongue, speech'
- inherited language (Old French), 'language (style of communicating)'
  - inherited *linguaticum (Latin), 'manner of speaking, language'
    - compound lingua (Latin), 'the tongue'
      - inherited dingua (Latin), 'pre-classical form of lingua (attested in Gaius Marius Victorinus)'
        inherited *denɣwā (Proto-Italic), 'tongue'
        inherited *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s (Proto-Indo-European), 'tongue'
    - compound -aticum (Latin), 'Used to form nouns indicating pertinence to the root verb or noun.'

Ancestors

language (Old French)

Descendants and derived words

language (English)
language (English)
language (English)
language (English)

Sources

Updated August 2026

More words starting with L

Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris