clan

Pronunciation

• IPA: /klæn/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Scottish Gaelic clann (“family, stock, offspring”),^[2][3][4] like Old Irish cland, clann, borrowed from Latin planta (“sprout, scion”) (see plant).^[2][3][4][5] The Goidelic branch of Celtic had no initial p, so it replaced Latin p- with c-;^[2][3] the same Latin word gave Welsh plant, children.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A group of families in the Highlands of Scotland claiming descent from a common ancestor: about 1425, in Scottish use;^[2][6][3] the 14th century as Scots clen in Hoad.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Similar tribal groups in other countries are clans from 1513,^[6] and the word was rarely used of the Irish (1672).^[6] Contemptuously, a set of people with common interests, a clique, is from 1536.^[6] Clannish is from 1776,^[2] and clansman from 1810, in Scott's Lady of the Lake.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1425 – a Highland clan.^[2]
• 1513 – a tribal group elsewhere.^[6]
• 1536 – a clique (contemptuous).^[6]
• 1776 – clannish.^[2]
• 1810 – clansman.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A group of families, especially in the Scottish Highlands, claiming a common ancestor and following one chief.
2. A large family, or a group of people related by birth or marriage.
3. A group of people with common interests or aims.

Word family

• clanless
• clannish
• clansman
• clanswoman
• interclan
• subclan

Related words

• plant

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press