Seigneur
/seɪnˈjɜːr/noun
A lord or nobleman, especially in historical French contexts.
Did you know?Seigneur comes from Latin senior, meaning “older,” because in early societies age was linked to authority, so the “lord” was originally the “older one.”
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*sen-
“to be old”
Latin
Latin
senior
“older, elder”
Late Latin
Latin
senior
“an elder, a superior”
Old French
Old French
seignor
“lord, master”
Middle English
English
seignour
“a lord or nobleman”
Modern English
English
seigneur
“a French lord or nobleman”