gué

ford (crossing)

Related: changer de cheval au milieu du gué, guéable

Inherited from Middle French gué, from Old French gué (“ford”), probably from Old Frankish *wad (“ford, crossing”) (perhaps through a Vulgar Latin *wadam), from Proto-Germanic *wadą (“ford, crossing”), from Proto-Indo-European *weh₂dʰ- (“to go, pass, cross, wade”). Also corresponds to Latin vadum (cognate to the Germanic term through Indo-European), which may have influenced or reinforced it. Compare Italian guado, Occitan ga, Catalan gual; alternative etymologies of Romance cognates derive thes