Etymologically
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clan

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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

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