French edit

Etymology edit

Inherited from Middle French encombrer, from Old French encombrer (to hinder, burden, encumber), from Medieval Latin incombrāre (to hinder, inconvenience, burden), from Medieval Latin combrus (barricade of felled trees), possibly from Gaulish *komberū, from Proto-Celtic *kombereti (to bring together) (compare Old Irish conbeir (brings together, bears)), from *kom- +‎ *bereti (to bear), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰéreti (to be carrying).[1][2] Alternatively from Latin cumulus (heap, pile), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱewh₁- (to swell).[3]

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /ɑ̃.kɔ̃.bʁe/
  • (file)

Verb edit

encombrer

  1. (transitive) to block off, to clutter, to clutter up, to congest
  2. (transitive) to encumber, to burden
  3. (transitive) to jam (e.g. a switchboard)

Conjugation edit

Derived terms edit

References edit

  1. ^ Niermeyer, Jan Frederik (1976) “combrus”, in Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden, Boston: E. J. Brill, page 204
  2. ^ encombrer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
  3. ^ Brachet, A. (1873) “encombre”, in Kitchin, G. W., transl., Etymological dictionary of the French language (Clarendon Press Series), 1st edition, London: Oxford/MacMillan and Co., page 131

Old French edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

From combre, more at encombrer.

Pronunciation edit

Verb edit

encombrer

  1. to bother; to irritate; to annoy
  2. to burden

Conjugation edit

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. In the present tense an extra supporting e is needed in the first-person singular indicative and throughout the singular subjunctive, and the third-person singular subjunctive ending -t is lost. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

Descendants edit

  • Old French: encombrer

References edit