folc

Forms

folc n (strong a-stem; genitive singular folces)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *folk, from Proto-Germanic *fulką (“troop, people”).^[1][2] The noun is common to the northern and western Germanic languages: Old Norse fólk (“crowd, army”), Old Frisian folk, Old Saxon folk and Old High German folc.^[2][3][4]

Its further origin is uncertain.^[1][5] Orel connects it with Celtic words for following, such as Breton heulia (“to follow”).^[2] Wiktionary mentions a possible Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁-gós from *pleh₁- (“to fill”), and Köbler also points to that root.^[1][4] Holthausen compares an Albanian word for a heap, with a query.^[3] Wiktionary and Etymonline note the Slavic word for a troop, Proto-Slavic *pъlkъ, and Etymonline adds Lithuanian pulkas (“crowd”);^[1][5] Wiktionary takes the Slavic word as a borrowing from Germanic.^[1][5] Etymonline suggests that it first meant a host of warriors.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is recorded from the mid-ninth century: the Vespasian Psalter gloss has Ne ondredu ic ðusend folces ymsellendes me "I will not fear thousands of people surrounding me" over Latin Non timebo milia populi circumdantis me (Psalm 3:7).^[6][7] Charter bounds also name folces weg "the people's road" and folces stān, the stone of Folkestone.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth–Toller groups the senses "the people, the common people, the multitude" and "a people, a tribe, a nation", and its Latin equivalents run from populus, gens and plebs to exercitus.^[9] Toller's Supplement adds the sense "army", as in the Orosius mid eallum his folce for Latin cum uniuerso exercitu.^[10] In verse the word is frequent: Beowulf has folces hyrde "shepherd of the people" for a king.^[9][11] Clark Hall adds "laity" and a class of persons.^[12] In compounds it means "public, of the people", as in folcland and folcġemōt.^[1][13]

Being a neuter noun, it had the same form in the nominative singular and plural.^[9] The word continued as Middle English folk, now English folk;^[14][5] Middle English usually construed it with a plural verb.^[14][5]

Timeline

• s. ix med. – ðusend folces in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[6][7]
• 890×897 – ðæs folces synnum in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[15][7]
• s. ix/x – in the Parker Chronicle.^[16][7]
• s. x¹ – mid eallum his folce “with all his army” in the Orosius.^[17][10]
• s. x/xi – folces hyrde in the Beowulf manuscript.^[18][11]

Meanings

Noun

1. the people, the common people, a multitude.^[9][4]
2. a people, nation, tribe.^[9][12][11]
3. the laity; a class of persons.^[12]
4. a troop, an army.^[10][4][11]

Word family

• folcġemōt
• folcġerēfa
• folcland
• folclīċ
• folcmōt
• folcrǣden
• folcstede
• landfolc

Descendants

• Middle English folk (→ English folk; English folkes; Scots fowk)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 117
3. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 111
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. folc
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 329
7. ^ a b c d Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
8. ^ Middendorff, H. (1902), Altenglisches Flurnamenbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 51
9. ^ a b c d e Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 296
10. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 764
11. ^ a b c d Fulk, R. D.; Bjork, Robert E.; Niles, John D., eds. (2008), Klaeber's Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, 4th ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press (glossary), p. s.v. folc
12. ^ a b c Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 123
13. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 72
14. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
15. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 499
16. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 83
17. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 249
18. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 344