curtilage

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English courtelage, curtilage, curtylage ("vegetable garden; croft; gardening, farming"), from Anglo-Norman curtilage, from Old French cortillage, courtillage (surviving as the obsolete modern French courtillage; compare Medieval Latin cortilagium, curtilagium). That came from cortil, cortill ("small court, garth") plus -age, a suffix denoting a relationship with a place. Cortil, cortill in turn derive from cort, curt ("court of a monarch") plus -il, a suffix forming place names; and cort, curt comes from Latin cōrtem, the accusative singular of cōrs, a variant of cohors ("court; enclosure; farmyard; etc."), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm ("beside, by; near; with") plus *ǵʰer- ("to enclose").