amour (French)

Where does "amour" come from?

The French noun 'amour' comes from Middle French 'amour' and Old French 'amor'[1][2], tracing directly back to Latin 'amor' (or its accusative form 'amorem')[1][4]. In Latin, the noun was formed from the verb 'amo'[3], which descends from Proto-Italic '*amo'[5] and may ultimately stem from the Proto-Indo-European root '*h3emh3-', meaning 'to seize' or 'to take hold'[6]. While regular phonetic evolution would have produced the form 'ameur', the modern vowel sound was likely shaped by the influence of Old Occitan[1].

Open questions

The irregular survival of the vowel in 'amour' rather than expected 'ameur' is tentatively attributed to Old Occitan influence rather than definitively proven sound change. [1]
The derivation of Proto-Italic '*amo' from Proto-Indo-European '*h3emh3-' relies on a proposed, reconstructed semantic pathway from seizing to taking by the hand and finally loving. [6]

Full etymology tree

amour (French), 'love'
- inherited amour (Middle French), 'love'
  - inherited amor (Old French), 'love'
    - influenced by (Old Occitan)
    - inherited amor (Latin), 'love, affection, devotion (for a person, one's family, one's country)'
      - suffix amo (Latin), 'to love'
        inherited *amō (Proto-Italic), 'to get hold of'
        derived *h₃emh₃- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to grab, to grasp, to seize, to take hold, tackle, touch'
      - suffix -or (Latin), 'used to form an abstract noun from a verb root or conceived root form'

Ancestors

amour (Middle French)
amor (Old French)
amor (Latin)

Cognates and doublets

anmeur (Picard)

Descendants and derived words

amour courtois (French)
amour de soi (French)
amour de vacances (French)
amoureux (French)
amoureux (French)
amour libre (French)
amour platonique (French)
amour-propre (French)
à tes amours (French)
à vos amours (French)
chagrin d'amour (French)
d'Amour (French)

Sources

Updated September 2026

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