aimer (French)
Where does "aimer" come from?
The French verb 'aimer' meaning 'to love' or 'to like' has a long lineage tracing back through Middle French 'aymer'[1][4] and Old French 'amer'[1][3][4]. These forms descend from the Latin verb 'amō' meaning 'to love'[1][4], which itself comes from Proto-Italic '*amō'[2]. Scholars suggest a further ancient root in Proto-Indo-European '*h₃emh₃-' meaning 'to seize, to take hold'[5]. Through a semantic shift moving from taking hold to regarding someone as a friend and finally to loving, the word developed its current meaning[5].
Open questions
- The derivation from Proto-Indo-European '*h₃emh₃-' relies on a proposed semantic shift from taking hold to loving. [5]
Full etymology tree
- aimer (French), 'to love (usually of a person, otherwise the meaning is closer to English like)'
- inherited aymer (Middle French), 'to love'
- inherited amer (Old French), 'to love'
- inherited 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'
- inherited *amō (Proto-Italic), 'to get hold of'
- inherited amo (Latin), 'to love'
- inherited amer (Old French), 'to love'
- inherited aymer (Middle French), 'to love'
Ancestors
- aymer (Middle French)
- amer (Old French)
- amo (Latin)
Descendants and derived words
- je t'aime (French)
- je vous aime (French)
- qui aime bien châtie bien (French)
- qui m'aime me suive (French)
- haimé (Haitian Creole)
- linmé (Louisiana Creole)
Related words
Sources
- aimer (French) - Wiktionary
- amo (Latin) - Wiktionary
- amer (Old French) - Wiktionary
- aymer (Middle French) - Wiktionary
- amō (Proto-Italic) - Wiktionary
Updated October 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris