potion (French)

Where does "potion" come from?

The French noun 'potion' was borrowed directly from Latin 'pōtiōnem'[1], an accusative form of 'pōtiō'[1], which denotes a drink or draught. This noun was formed within Latin from the supine stem of the verb 'pōtō' ('to drink')[2] combined with the suffix '-tiō'[2]. The verbal base derives from the adjective and participle 'pōtus'[3][4], which traces back through Proto-Italic '*pōtos'[4][5] to the Proto-Indo-European root '*peh₃-', meaning 'to drink'[4][5][6]. While 'potion' was borrowed as a learned term, the same Latin ancestor evolved naturally into French to yield its doublet, 'poison'.

Open questions

The replacement of an expected vowel *-a- by *-ō- in the Proto-Italic ancestor of Latin 'pōtus' is hypothetically explained by the influence of a Proto-Indo-European root aorist form. [4]
A proposed connection between Latin 'pōtus' and Umbrian 'punes' rests on an uncertain reconstruction. [4]

Full etymology tree

potion (French), 'potion'
- borrowed potio (Latin), 'drinking'
  - affix poto (Latin), 'to drink'
    - affix potus (Latin), 'drunk (intoxicated)'
      - inherited *pōtos (Proto-Italic), 'drunk'
        influenced by *péh₃t (Proto-Indo-European)
        inherited *ph₃tós (Proto-Indo-European), 'drunk'
        affix *peh₃- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to drink'
        suffix *-tós (Proto-Indo-European), 'Creates verbal adjectives from verb roots.'
    - suffix -o (Latin), 'suffixed to nouns or adjectives. Originally a-stem nouns. Later extended to nouns with other stems. Forms regular first-conjugation verbs'
  - suffix -tio (Latin), '-tion, -ation, -ing; suffixed to verbs to form action nouns denoting a process, action, or result of an action.'

Ancestors

potio (Latin)

Cognates and doublets

poison (French)

Sources

Updated September 2026

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