entry
joust
/dʒaʊst/A mounted combat between two armed opponents
From O.French, ultimately from Latin joust (to meet or fight in single combat).
from Vulgar Latin *iuxtare "to approach, come together, meet," originally "be next to,"
+1 more sourcefrom Vulgar Latin *iuxtare "to approach, come together, meet," originally "be next to,"
+1 more sourcefrom Old French joster "to joust, tilt, fight in single combat,"
from Old French jouster (modern French jouter)
Word Ancestry
from Vulgar Latin *iuxtare "to approach, come together, meet," originally "be next to,"
+1 more sourcefrom Vulgar Latin *iuxtare "to approach, come together, meet," originally "be next to,"
+1 more sourcefrom Old French joster "to joust, tilt, fight in single combat,"
from Old French jouster (modern French jouter)
Picture two armored knights steering enormous horses straight at each other, lances leveled like telephone poles. The odd surprise is that joust began not with violence but with proximity: Latin iuxta meant “beside” or “very near,” and its later Vulgar Latin descendant referred to approaching or meeting. Old French turned that meeting into joster, a formal single combat, and English borrowed joust around 1300. For centuries, English even treated it as essentially “just,” both in spelling and pronunciation—a medieval collision hiding inside an apparently ordinary word. The family resemblance to juxtapose is no accident: both carry the old notion of placing things side by side, although one ends with lances splintering and the other with ideas sitting next to each other.
The Story
Picture two armored knights steering enormous horses straight at each other, lances leveled like telephone poles. The odd surprise is that joust began not with violence but with proximity: Latin iuxta meant “beside” or “very near,” and its later Vulgar Latin descendant referred to approaching or meeting. Old French turned that meeting into joster, a formal single combat, and English borrowed joust around 1300. For centuries, English even treated it as essentially “just,” both in spelling and pronunciation—a medieval collision hiding inside an apparently ordinary word. The family resemblance to juxtapose is no accident: both carry the old notion of placing things side by side, although one ends with lances splintering and the other with ideas sitting next to each other.
Modern Usage
Urban Dictionary records vulgar slang senses including cheating or overdoing something, wanting something intensely, and a sexual act; these are nonstandard and highly context-dependent.
Kin & Kindred
From 'joust'·to meet or fight in single combat
Derived Terms
English words from this root
Sources
Urban Dictionary
Wikipedia
Wiktionary