cuivre

copper; brass; copperplate

“Le vert-de-gris est la rouille du cuivre.” — Verdigris is copper rust.

Inherited from Old French cuivre, quivre, queivre, coivre, from Latin Cyprium, cupreum (aes) (compare cuprum) from Ancient Greek Κῠ́προς (Kŭ́pros, “Cyprus”). It was not uncommon for Greek short ῠ (pronounced in Classical Attic as /y/) to be adapted as Latin short ŭ. This would normally yield Proto-Western-Romance *[o], but a following palatal sound apparently could cause *[o] to be raised to *[u] (or alternatively, the original close quality of Latin short ŭ to be retained) early enough for the