English
route
Route comes from Middle English route, from Old French rote, from Latin rupta via ‘a path made by force’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErupta via1as rupta via‘a path made by force’literally ‘a path made by force’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400rote1‘route’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500route1
- Englishearliest quotation 1897route1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English route
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1897, Winston Churchill: “I corralled the judge, and we started off across…”.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErupta viaWiktionary, English routeas rupta via‘a path made by force’literally ‘a path made by force’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400roteWiktionary, English route‘route’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500routeWiktionary, English route
- Englishearliest quotation 1897routeWiktionary, English route. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1897, Winston Churchill: “I corralled the judge, and we started off across…”
The story
Further via Latin ruptus related with bankrupt. Unrelated to road.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *Hrewp- ‘to break, tear (up)’
corruption, corrupt, rob, robbery, disrupt, eruption, rover, rupture, robe, erupt, reaver, 23 more
through Middle English route
Today it means
noun A course or way which is traveled or passed.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “route”. 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 / Latin rupta via / route