Etymograph

English

discourse

Discourse comes from Middle French discours ‘conversation, speech’, from Latin discursus ‘the act of running about’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱers- ‘to run’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱers-1‘to run’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱr̥s-é-ti1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*korzō1‘to run’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcurrō2‘run’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdiscurrō2‘run about’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdiscursus2‘the act of running about’
  7. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600discours2‘conversation, speech’
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500discours2
  9. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588discourse2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin curro
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English discourse
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “UUho when he ſhal embrace you in his arms…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱers-Wiktionary, Latin curro‘to run’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱr̥s-é-tiWiktionary, Latin curroreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*korzōWiktionary, Latin curro‘to run’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcurrōWiktionary, English discourse‘run’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdiscurrōWiktionary, English discourse‘run about’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdiscursusWiktionary, English discourse‘the act of running about’
  7. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600discoursWiktionary, English discourse‘conversation, speech’
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500discoursWiktionary, English discourse
  9. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588discourseWiktionary, English discourse. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “UUho when he ſhal embrace you in his arms…”

The story

Spelling modified by influence of Middle French cours (‘course’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ḱers- ‘to run’

career, charge, carry, rush, carrier, cargo, hurry, carriage, occurrence, chariot, caricature, intercourse, carousel, corral, hurrah, recursive, cursory, recourse, carrack, 35 more

through Proto-Italic *korzō ‘to run’

corridor, concurrent, courier, recurrent, incursion, recursion, 20 more

through Latin currō ‘run’

current, occur, currency, curriculum, precursor, incur, concur, cursor, corsair, recur, hussar, concourse, courant, succour, 24 more

through Latin discursus ‘the act of running about’

discursive, 1 more

Today it means

noun Verbal exchange, conversation.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “discourse”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin curro. 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 *ḱers- / discourse

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