loc

Forms

loc n (strong a-stem; genitive singular loces, nominative plural locu)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *lok (“shutter, lock”), from Proto-Germanic *luką.^[1] Orel and Köbler set the same Proto-Germanic noun behind Gothic 𐌿𐍃𐌻𐌿𐌺 (usluk, “opening”), Old Norse lok, Old Frisian lok and Old High German loh (“hole, cavity”).^[2][3] Holthausen, Köbler and Orel take it as a noun belonging to the strong verb lūcan (“to close, lock”), from Proto-Germanic *lūkaną.^[4][5][2]

Köbler traces the family to the root Proto-Indo-European *leug- (“to bend”) (Pokorny 685).^[5] Orel connects the verb with Ancient Greek λύγος (lúgos, “withy”) and Lithuanian lùgnas (“flexible”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is in the poem Christ in the Exeter Book, written in the second half of the tenth century, where God will pass through closed gates: ond þurh þa fæstan locu foldan neosan “and visit the earth through the fast locks”.^[7][8] In the Old English gloss of the Lindisfarne Gospels, added in the third quarter of the century, scipa plett vel locc renders the Latin “ovile ovium” of John 10:1, the sheepfold.^[9][8][10]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller give the word as anything that closes, a lock, bolt or bar, and as an enclosed place, an enclosure or fold.^[10] In the glosses it renders Latin “clausura”, “caula”, “ovile” and “clustellum”,^[10][11] and Köbler adds “sera”.^[5] It is used figuratively of the bars of the body in Gregory's Dialogues, where “þá sylfan locu þæs líchaman” renders “ipsa carnis claustra”.^[11] Clark Hall and Holthausen also record the senses prison and stronghold, and bargain, settlement or conclusion.^[12][4]

The word lived on as Middle English lok, now English lock.^[13][14]

Timeline

• s. x² – þurh þa fæstan locu in Christ in the Exeter Book.^[7][8]
• s. x³/⁴ – locc “fold” in the Lindisfarne Gospels gloss.^[9][8]
• s. xi¹ – a seal set on the lock of a wine cellar in Gregory's Dialogues (Hatton 76).^[15][11]
• c. 1275 – Middle English locun in Laȝamon's Brut.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. a lock, bolt or bar: anything by which something is closed.^[10][5]
2. (figurative) a barrier, as the bars of the body.^[11]
3. an enclosure, a fold for sheep.^[10][11]
4. a prison, a stronghold.^[12]
5. a bargain, agreement or settlement; a conclusion.^[12][4]

Word family

• helleloc

Descendants

• Middle English lok (→ English lock; Scots lock)^[1]

Related words

• lūcan
• loca

Usage notes

The same spelling also writes the interjection lōc, lōca “look, see”, which also forms indefinite relatives such as lōc hwæt “whatever”;^[10][11] Bosworth and Toller treat it as a separate headword.^[10][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 250
3. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
4. ^ a b c Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 205
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. loc
6. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 252
7. ^ 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. 223
8. ^ 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
9. ^ 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. 291
10. ^ a b c d e f g Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 645
11. ^ a b c d e f g Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 619
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. 220
13. ^ 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)
14. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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. 503