English
corse
Corse comes from Old French cors ‘body’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *krépos.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*krépos1‘body’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*korpos1‘body’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcorpus2‘body, person’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400cors3‘body’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cors3
- Englishearliest quotation 1590corse3
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin corpus
- 2 Wiktionary, Old French cors
- 3 Wiktionary, English corse
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto I: “that lewd ribauld with vile lust aduaunst / Layd…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kréposWiktionary, Latin corpus‘body’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*korposWiktionary, Latin corpus‘body’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcorpusWiktionary, Old French cors‘body, person’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400corsWiktionary, English corse‘body’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500corsWiktionary, English corse
- Englishearliest quotation 1590corseWiktionary, English corse. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto I: “that lewd ribauld with vile lust aduaunst / Layd…”
Linked words
through Proto-Italic *korpos ‘body’
incorporate, incorporation, 7 more
through Latin corpus ‘body, person’
corporation, corporate, corps, corporal, corpus, corpulent, incorporeal, 9 more
through Old French cors ‘body’
Today it means
noun A (living) body.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “corse”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin corpus, Old French cors. 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 *krépos / corse