word-forming element meaning "French" or "the Franks," from Medieval Latin combining form of Franci "the Franks" (see Frank), hence, by extension, "the French." Used from early 18c. in forming English compound words.
Entries linking to franco-
frank adj.
c. 1300, "free, liberal, generous;" 1540s, "outspoken," from Old French franc "free (not servile); without hindrance, exempt from; sincere, genuine, open, gracious, generous; worthy, noble, illustrious" (12c.), from Medieval Latin francus "free, at liberty, exempt from service," as a noun, "a freeman, a Frank" (see Frank).
Frank, literally, free; the freedom may be in regard to one's own opinions, which is the same as openness, or in regard to things belonging to others, where the freedom may go so far as to be unpleasant, or it may disregard conventional ideas as to reticence. Hence, while openness is consistent with timidity, frankness implies some degree of boldness. [Century Dictionary]
A generalization of the tribal name; the connection is that Franks, as the conquering class, alone had the status of freemen in a world that knew only free, captive, or slave. For sense connection of "being one of the nation" and "free," compare Latin liber "free," from the same root as German Leute "nation, people" (see liberal (adj.)) and Slavic "free" words (Old Church Slavonic svobodi, Polish swobodny, Serbo-Croatian slobodan) which are cognates of the first element in English sibling "brother, sister" (in Old English used more generally: "relative, kinsman"). For the later sense development, compare ingenuity.
Francophile adj.
"characterized by excessive fondness of France and the French," 1875, from Franco- + -phile. "A newspaper word" [OED]. Its opposite, Francophobe, is recorded from 1890, implied in Francophobic; Francophobia is from 1862. An earlier word was anti-Gallician (n.), attested from 1755.