parpaing

probably from a popular Latin perpetaneus "uninterrupted", an extension (of the same type as subitus > subitaneus > *subitanus, "sudden" or as caput > capitaneus, "captain") of the Latin perpes, perpetis ("uninterrupted"), postulated by the different forms of the word in French as well as by the Spanish perpiaño and the Apulian [dialect of southern Italy] perpitagnu "stone balcony parapet". One also notes partaun in Rhaeto-Romance with the senses of "transverse part" and "barrier, side rail", which implies a Latin *perpetanus.