acrossacross

Across comes from Middle English acros, earlier a-croiz, from Anglo-Norman an ‘in, on’ + Old French croiz ‘cross’, ultimately from Latin crux.

1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kruks /*krukis¹reconstructed
2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcrux¹‘cross’
3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400croiz¹‘in the form of a cross’
4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500a-croiz¹
5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500acros¹‘in the shape of a cross’
6. Englishearliest quotation 1897across¹

1. ¹ Wiktionary, English across
2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1897, Winston Churchill: “I corralled the judge, and we started off across…”.