lad

lad¹ way, carrying

Pronunciation

• /lɑːd/^[1]

Forms

lād f (strong ō-stem; genitive singular lāde, nominative plural lāda)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the way and the carrying is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *laidu, from Proto-Germanic *laidō (“a leading; way, course”).^[1] Orel derives the Proto-Germanic noun from *līþaną (“to go”), the verb continued by līþan.^[2][3] Its cognates are Old Norse leið (“way, road, course”), Old Frisian lēde (“way, direction”) and Old High German leita (“leading”).^[2][4][5] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *loyt-éh₂-, from the root *leyt- (“to go, go forth, die”), perhaps an extension of *ley- (“to be slippery, glide”);^[1][4] Köbler sets it under the same roots.^[1][4]

Proto-Germanic /ai/ appears here as ⟨ā⟩, one of the earliest changes that set Old English apart from the other West Germanic dialects.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated records are in poetry copied in the second half of the tenth century.^[7][8] In Andreas in the Vercelli Book the apostle asks the steersman þæt ðu us on lade liðe weorðe “that you be kind to us on the voyage”, and in Genesis A in the Junius manuscript Noah expects the raven to come back gif he on þære lade land ne funde “if on that journey it found no land”.^[7][8][9]

Semantic evolution

In poetry the word is a course or way, above all a voyage over the sea: in Beowulf the slain sea monsters no longer hinder the seafarers' passage, and Hygelac asks hu lomp eow on lade “how did it go with you on the journey?”.^[10][3] In charters and place names it is a watercourse or channel, such as ⟨Iaegnlaad⟩.^[10][11][12] In prose it is the carrying of goods: the Law of the Northumbrian Priests forbids on Sunday all work and all carrying, by waggon, by horse or on the back.^[10] Sweet also gives the senses of a means of living, sustenance.^[13]

It became Middle English lod, which in early Middle English took the sense of a burden, the meaning of English load; English lode keeps the older sense of a way or course, and it has named a vein of ore since about 1600.^[14]

Timeline

• s. x² – on lade “on the voyage” in Andreas in the Vercelli Book.^[7][9]
• s. x² – on þære lade “on that journey” in Genesis A in the Junius manuscript.^[8][9]
• s. x² – his lichoman lade “sustenance for his body” in Guthlac in the Exeter Book.^[15][9]
• s. x/xi – lade ne letton “did not hinder their passage” in the Beowulf manuscript.^[16][3]
• s. xii² – lade lædan “to cart loads” among the services of the tenants of Tidenham, in a later copy.^[17][9]
• c. 1200 – Middle English lode “burden”.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. a course, way, journey, especially by sea.^[10][3][13]
2. a watercourse, channel, in place names and charters.^[10][11]
3. carriage, the carrying of goods; leading.^[10][18]
4. means of living, sustenance.^[13][4]

Word family

• lādmann
• lādsċipe
• lādtēow
• sċiplād
• brimlād
• sǣlād
• ȳþlād
• ġelād
• wudulād

Descendants

• Middle English lod (→ English load; English lode)^[1]

lad² excuse, exculpation

Pronunciation

• /lɑːd/^[1]

Forms

lād f (strong ō-stem; genitive singular lāde, nominative plural lāda)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the excuse is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *laidu, the same form as the word for a way, and is akin to Old Frisian lāde (“leading, reasoning”), found in dēdlâde (“oath of purification”), and to Old High German leita (“justification, excuse”).^[1] Holthausen and Köbler give purgation by oath as one sense of a single noun that also means way, conveyance and watercourse.^[5][4] Liebermann cites the legal historian His, who argues from the Old Frisian forms against merging the legal term with the word for a way.^[19]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is the Pastoral Care in Hatton 20, written 890×897: the guilty king is to be brought round by his own words ðætte he nane lade ne mæge findan, ac sie sua mid his agnum wordum gebunden “so that he can find no excuse, but is bound by his own words”, for the Latin “et in nulla sui defensione se exerceat”.^[20][9][21]

Semantic evolution

The general sense is an excuse or defence against a charge: in the West Saxon Gospels sinners nabbaþ nane lade be hyra synne “have no excuse for their sin”, and in the glosses it renders Latin “excusatio”.^[21][18] In the laws it is the technical term for clearing oneself of an accusation, by one's own oath with oath-helpers or by the ordeal, single or threefold according to the charge.^[21][19] Bosworth and Toller, following Schmid, note that the legal term does not appear in the laws before Æthelred's time, when canne and andsæc were used.^[21] The Latin legal texts took it over as “lada”, explained as “purgatio”.^[19] No Middle English descendant is recorded.^[1]

Timeline

• 890×897 – nane lade ne mæge findan “can find no excuse” in the Pastoral Care.^[20][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. an excuse, defence against a charge.^[21][13]
2. (law) purgation, exculpation, clearing oneself from an accusation by oath or ordeal.^[21][19]

Word family

• lādian
• werlād