Etymograph

English

corniche

Corniche comes from French corniche ‘ledge’, from Italian cornice ‘carrion crow’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱorh₂-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱorh₂-1‘crow, raven’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcornīx2‘crow’
  3. Italianc. 1300–presentcornice3‘carrion crow’
  4. Frenchc. 1600–presentcorniche4‘ledge’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1987corniche4

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin cornix
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Italian cornice
  3. 3 Wiktionary, French corniche
  4. 4 Wiktionary, English corniche
  5. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1987, Marianne Alireza, Women of Saudi Arabia: “For local color, Fridays on Jiddah's corniche along the…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱorh₂-Wiktionary, Latin cornix‘crow, raven’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcornīxWiktionary, Italian cornice‘crow’
  3. Italianc. 1300–presentcorniceWiktionary, French corniche‘carrion crow’
  4. Frenchc. 1600–presentcornicheWiktionary, English corniche‘ledge’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1987cornicheWiktionary, English corniche. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1987, Marianne Alireza, Women of Saudi Arabia: “For local color, Fridays on Jiddah's corniche along the…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ḱorh₂- ‘crow, raven’

crown, coronation, coroner, corona, tosh, krona, coronet, 11 more

Today it means

noun A road built on a ledge (cliff), especially along water (a river, sea, etc).

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “corniche”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin cornix, Italian cornice, French corniche. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *ḱorh₂- / corniche

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