aloft

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English o loft, also alofte,^[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Old Norse á lopt (“up into the air”) (of motion) and á lopti (“up in the air”) (of position),^{[6][7][5][8][4][9][10]} a phrase of á (“in, on, to”) and lopt (“air, sky; upper room”).^{[6][5][9][11]} The OED, revising the entry in 2012, instead derives it within English from the phrase on lofte, a phrase with loft, the first element being reduced, and only compares the Norse phrases.^[10][12] The Norse noun is the general Germanic word for air, cognate with Old English lyft, Old High German luft and Gothic 𐌻𐌿𐍆𐍄𐌿𐍃 (luftus);^[6][9][13] its “-pt-” was pronounced “-ft-”.^[6][14] Etymonline gives the Old English equivalent as on þa lyft.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Above, high up, overhead: about 1175, in the Ormulum,^[10] which Barnhart dates probably about 1200.^[2] Etymonline gives the sense "on high, in the air" from about 1200.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Klein explains the sense "on high" as growing out of "in the air".^[11] Middle English soon used the word of heaven (before 1400, in the Cursor Mundi), of a rider high on a horse or a chariot (until 1720), and of being upright or on one's feet (about 1330).^[10] Figurative senses, "prevailing, in evidence", "in power, of high rank" and "in a loud voice, loftily", appear in the 14th century, in Gower among others, and later died out.^[10][9] Chaucer wrote the phrase on-lofte or o-lofte ten times.^[12] The nautical sense, high on the masts and rigging rather than on deck, is recorded from before 1400, in Robert Mannyng's Chronicle,^[10] and Weekley notes Dibdin's song "There's a sweet little cherub that sits up aloft, To keep watch for the life of poor Jack", which joins it to the original meaning.^[13] Johnson (1755) called aloft "a word used chiefly in poetry".^[15] It was also a preposition, "above, over", from the 14th century, now obsolete or rare;^[5][9] Shakespeare's King John has "aloft the flood".^[5][9] Modern American dictionaries add "in flight", of an aircraft.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1175 – above, high up, in the Ormulum.^[10][2]
• c. 1330 – upright, on one's feet; also, prevailing or in evidence (obsolete by 1693).^[10]
• 1393 – in power; in a loud voice, both in Gower (obsolete).^[10]
• before 1400 – in heaven, in the Cursor Mundi.^[10]
• before 1400 – at the masts or rigging of a ship.^[10]
• 14th century – preposition, above, over (now obsolete).^[5]
• c. 1425 – on horseback or on a chariot (obsolete by 1720).^[10]
• c. 1450 – of the moon or a star, visible in the sky, in Lydgate.^[10]
• 1634 – held up in the air above one's head.^[10]

Meanings

Adverb

1. High up; in the air or overhead: Gulls hung aloft over the harbour.^[16][5]
2. Up into the air; upward: The crowd lifted the winner aloft.^[5][9]
3. (nautical) In or into the rigging or the upper parts of the masts of a ship.^[16][10][9]
4. In flight, of an aircraft or its passengers.^[5]
5. (archaic) In or to heaven.^[9][10]

Preposition

1. (obsolete) Above, over, on top of.^[5][9]

Related words

• loft
• lofty
• lift

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
12. ^ a b Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
13. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins