An interesting French word I learnt yesterday was enchère [ɑ̃.ʃɛʁ], which means a bid in an auction or sale, or in bridge (the card game) [source].
Enchère comes from enchérir, which means to make more expensive, to bid; to outbid, to make a bid (at auction); to go up (in price), to become more expensive.
Enchérir comes from cher (dear, dearly) plus a couple of affixes [source].
Cher means dear both in the sense of expensive, and in the sense of beloved, and dearly, as in payer cher (to pay dearly). It is also used to start letters.
Related words and expressions include:
- faire une enchère = to (make a) bid
- mettre aux enchères = to put up for auction
- vente aux enchères = auction
- enchère publique = public auction
- renchérir sur = to add something to, to become more expensive
- surenchéir = to outbid, to bid higher, to raise one’s bid, to try and outbid each other
- enchérisseur, enchérisseuse = bidder
- enchérissement = rise in cost, price surcharge
If you translate enchérir literally into English, you get to endear, which means to attach, attract, bind, captivate, charm, engage, win. Back in the 16th century, however, it meant to make (something) more precious or valuable, and then it came to mean to make (something) more expensive; to increase the cost of, or to stress (something) as important; to exaggerate [source].
The English word bid comes from the Middle English bidden (to ask, beseech, demand, comand), from the Old English biddan (to ask, demand), from the Proto-Germanic *bidjaną (to ask), from the Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰedʰ- (to request, pray, ask for) [source], which is also the root of the Welsh words gwaedd (to shout, cry), gweiddi (prayer) and gweiddïo (to pray).
Auction comes from the Latin auctiō (an increase, auction), from augere (to increase) [source]