rampart

Borrowed from Middle French rempart, meaning the rampart of a fort, which came from Old French remparer, 'to defend, fortify, enclose with a rampart.' That verb was built from re- ('again') plus emparer ('to defend, fortify, surround, seize'), itself from Old Occitan amparer, tracing back to Vulgar Latin *anteparō, 'to prepare.'

The word began as a verb about preparing or fortifying, then narrowed into the noun for the fortified wall itself — the thing built by that repeated act of preparation and defense.

It shares its Vulgar Latin root *anteparō, 'to prepare,' with the Latin parō that gives English words built on the idea of preparing, though no specific cognate beyond this chain is given.