#ditier

ditier m /diˈtjer/

[noun] poem

Vocabulaire d’ancien français

Flicking through my Old French vocab book, I happened to spot the word ditier. This word broadly meant “poem” and it occurred to me that this was probably the origin of the English word “ditty”. Unsurprisingly, this word is of Latin origin and comes from the past participle dictatus, dictāre meaning not only “to dictate” but also “to compose”.

It should be noted that Old French spelling and pronunciation was not fixed and varied from region to region, even town to town and so alternative spellings such as ditié, ditiet, dité or ditee can be found.