cler (Old French)

Where does "cler" come from?

The Old French adjective 'cler', meaning 'bright, well-lit, not dark' or 'clear', descends from the Latin 'clārus'[1]. This Latin term ultimately traces back to the Proto-Indo-European root '*kelh₁-' meaning 'to call, shout', traveling through the intermediate stages of '*kl̥h₁rós' and the Proto-Italic '*klāros' meaning 'loud', with the addition of the suffix '*-ros'[2].

Open questions

• The derivation of the Latin root from Proto-Indo-European involves several reconstructed intermediate forms that are not directly attested. [2]

Full etymology tree

• cler (Old French), 'bright, well-lit, not dark'
  • inherited clarus (Latin), 'clear, bright'
    • derived *kelh₁- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to call, cry, summon'
    • derived *kl̥h₁rós (Proto-Indo-European)
      • derived *kelh₁- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to call, cry, summon'
    • derived *klāros (Proto-Italic)
      • derived *kelh₁- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to call, cry, summon'

Ancestors

• clarus (Latin)

Descendants and derived words

• cler (Middle French)

Sources

1. cler (Old French) - Wiktionary
2. clarus (Latin) - Wiktionary

Updated August 2026

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