Etymology of the French word cirque
the French word
cirquederived from the Latin word
circus (race course; circus in Rome, celebration of games)
derived from the Greek word
kirkosderived from the Proto-Indo-European root
*kirk-derived from the Proto-Indo-European root
*sker- (to turn, bend)
Date
The earliest known usage of cirque in French dates from the 14th century.
Derivations in other languages
English
cirque, Romanian
circCognates
Dutch
circus, English
circus, German
Zirkus, Italian
circo, Lithuanian
cirkas, Norwegian
sirkus, Polish
cyrk, Russian
циpк, Swedish
cirkus
