folk

Pronunciation

• IPA: /fəʊk/ (UK); /foʊk/, /foʊlk/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old English folc (“common people; nation, tribe; troop, army”),^[2][3][4][5] from Proto-Germanic *fulką,^[3][2] cognate with Old Saxon folc, Dutch volk, German Volk and Old Norse folk (“people; army”);^[2][3][4] Hoad suggests the original sense, a host of warriors, is best kept in Old Norse.^[4][3] Watkins derives it from PIE Proto-Indo-European *pele- (“to fill”), making it related to πλῆθος (plêthos, “multitude”) and Latin plebs,^[3][2] while Boutkan thinks the Germanic and Balto-Slavic words may come from a substrate.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Common people, a tribe or multitude: about 725, in Beowulf, in Barnhart;^[2] the OED has a people in relation to a superior, such as God or a king, from about 888.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Old English formed many compounds with folc, such as folcgemōt, a town meeting.^[3] A people, nation or race is from about 1000, now archaic.^[6] Men or people in general, as in country folk, is from before 1225.^[6] The plural folks is from the 15th century and since the 17th has been the usual form, the singular being archaic or dialectal;^[3][4] in American English folks also means one's parents or family.^[7][8] The adjective use, as in folk song and folk tale, is from about 1850, after German Volkslied,^[3][5] and folklore and folk music are 19th-century words.^[4][3] The word was superseded in most senses by people.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 725 – common people, tribe.^[2]
• before 1225 – people in general.^[6]
• 15th century – the plural folks.^[3]
• c. 1850 – the adjective, as in folk song.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. People in general, or people of a particular kind: country folk.
2. folks (informal): one's family, especially parents.
3. Folk music.

Adjective

1. Of the traditional culture of ordinary people: folk art, folk tale.

Word family

• folk etymology
• folk medicine

Related words

• Norfolk
• Suffolk
• folklore
• folksy
• people
• plebeian

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin