chasser (French)
Where does "chasser" come from?
The French verb 'chasser' means to hunt, chase, or drive off[1]. It is inherited from the Old French 'chacier'[1], which traces back to Vulgar Latin '*captiāre'[1]. This Vulgar Latin form ultimately derives from the Latin 'captus'[1], the participle of 'capiō' meaning seize or take[2].
Open questions
- The Vulgar Latin form is a reconstructed intermediate step. [1] [3]
Full etymology tree
- chasser (French), 'to hunt'
- inherited chacier (Old French), 'to hunt, to go hunting'
- derived *captiare (Latin), 'inflection of captiō:'
- derived captus (Latin), 'captured, having been captured, seized, having been seized, taken, having been taken'
- inherited *kaptos (Proto-Italic)
- inherited *kaptós (Proto-Indo-European), 'seized, held'
- derived *kapyéti (Proto-Indo-European), 'to be grasping'
- derived *kap- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to seize, to grab'
- derived *kapyéti (Proto-Indo-European), 'to be grasping'
- inherited *kaptós (Proto-Indo-European), 'seized, held'
- inherited *kaptos (Proto-Italic)
- derived captus (Latin), 'captured, having been captured, seized, having been seized, taken, having been taken'
- derived *captiare (Latin), 'inflection of captiō:'
- inherited chacier (Old French), 'to hunt, to go hunting'
Ancestors
- chacier (Old French)
- captus (Latin)
Cognates and doublets
- catch (French)
Descendants and derived words
- chasse-café (French)
- chasse patate (French)
- chasseresse (French)
- chasseur (French)
- chasseuse (French)
- chasse vieillesse (French)
- chassez le naturel, il revient au galop (French)
- pas chassé (French)
- schassen (German)
Sources
- chasser (French) - Wiktionary
- captus (Latin) - Wiktionary
- chacier (Old French) - Wiktionary
- kaptós (Proto-Indo-European) - Wiktionary
- kap- (Proto-Indo-European) - Wiktionary
Updated October 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris