Etymology
1. From Middle French and Old French estre and ester, respectively from Early Medieval Latin essere (< esse "be") and Latin stāre (“stand”). Conjugations reflect both but more so the former. The form suis "(I) am" appears to reflect Vulgar Latin *suiō < Latin sum. Compare ai "(I) have", sais "(I) know" < *aiō, *saiō < habeō, sapiō.
2. Cognates
3. See also Angevin éter, étère, eteur, Aragonese estar, Aromanian escu, est, hiu, Bourbonnais-Berrichon éter, être, Bourguignon étre, Catalan ésser, estar, ser, Champenois ètre, Corsican essa, esse, Emilian èsar, èser, Franc-Comtois étre, Franco-Provençal étre, Friulian jessi, sei, stâ, Galician estar, ser, Gallo ête, étr, Gallurese esse, essi, Istriot ièsi, Istro-Romanian fi, Italian essere, Ladin esse, esser, ester, vester, Ligurian êse, Lombard vesser, Lorrain estre, être, yestre, Neapolitan essere, Norman ête, yête, Occitan èsser, estar, èstre, Picard ète, Piedmontese esse, Portuguese estar, Romagnol es, ser, Romanian fi, Romansh esser, Sardinian èssere, Sassarese assé, Sicilian èssiri, Spanish estar, ser, Venetan èsar, èser, èssere, Walloon esse. See: Old French '
estre', Latin '
sto', Latin '
sum', Aragonese '
estar', Aromanian '
escu', Valencian '
ésser', Corsican '
essa', Friulian '
jessi', Galician '
estar', Italian '
essere', Occitan '
èsser', Piemontese '
esse', Portuguese '
estar', Romanian '
fi', Rhaeto-Romance '
esser', Spanish '
estar', Wallon 'esse'.
Verbs referencing "être"
English
state, Corsican
esse.