- route
- early 13c., from O.Fr. rute "road, way, path," from L. rupta (via) "(a road) opened by force," from rupta, fem. pp. of rumpere "to break" (see rupture). Sense of "fixed or regular course for carrying things" (cf. mail route) is 1792, an extension of the meaning "customary path of animals" (early 15c.).