dialect

Where does the word "dialect" come from? It comes from Greek dialektos, passing through French before entering English (1570s).

Dialect’s story begins in Greek: dialektos meant “discourse, way of speaking.” Greek, from 'dialegesthai', to converse. By 1500s, the word had taken hold in French as dialecte. Came via Latin 'dialectus'. It reached English by 1570s as dialect. Greek had its own dialects: Attic, Ionic, Doric. Today, dialect means a regional form of a language.

1. Stage 1 · Greek · ancient dialektos "discourse, way of speaking", Greek, from 'dialegesthai', to converse.
2. Stage 2 · French · 1500s dialecte "dialect", came via Latin 'dialectus'.
3. Stage 3 · English · 1570s dialect "way of speaking", Greek had its own dialects: Attic, Ionic, Doric.