écarter

According to the Trésor de la Langue Française, borrowed from Vulgar Latin *exquartāre, from classical Latin quartus. The Vocabolario Etimologico of Pianigiani gives Vulgar Latin *excarptāre, formed with the supine Latin *excarptum of Latin *excarpāre or Latin excerpō (“choose, select”). At the same time, Pianigiani adds an alternative etymology, though not fully explained, involving a relationship to Irish scar (past participle scartha), itself derived from Old Irish scaraid. Compare Italian sc