lacrosse

Etymology

It is borrowed from French la crosse (“the hooked stick, the crosier”), the name French speakers in Canada gave to the game,^[2][3][4][5] shortened from jeu de la crosse (“game of the hooked stick”).^{[6][7][8][9][10]} Barnhart notes that la crosse first meant the racket used in the game.^[3] The phrase is made of the article la (“the”) and crosse,^[11][12] which in Middle French already named a stick used to drive a ball in various games, a special use of crosse, a staff with a hooked end.^[11] The French word is Old French croce (“crosier”), also crosse, of Germanic origin,^[13][8] perhaps through *croccia, a Gallo-Romance form,^[6] from Proto-Germanic *kruk-, the source of crook and crutch.^[6][7][12] Klein gives the Germanic form as Proto-West Germanic *krukja (“crutch”).^[12] The game itself was Native American, and its native name is reflected in Ojibwe baaga'adowe (“to play lacrosse”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The game played by Native Americans with netted sticks: 1718, in American English, according to Barnhart and Merriam-Webster.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Ayto describes how the French phrase jeu de la crosse was reduced and fused into the single word lacrosse.^[7] The dates of the English word vary widely between the dictionaries: 1718 in Barnhart and Merriam-Webster,^[3][2] 1710–20 in Dictionary.com,^[4] the 17th century in Hoad,^[8] 1850 in Etymonline^[6] and 1867 in the OED, whose entry is not fully revised.^[11] Weekley notes that the Canadian game is mentioned in 1763,^[14] and a Canadian text written in 1821 speaks of the "Game of de la Crosse or Baggatiway".^[5] The modern form and rules of the game were laid down in Canada in 1860.^[6] The stick itself is called a crosse.^[9][2]

Timeline

• 1718 – first record of the word, in American English.^[3][2]
• 1763 – the Canadian game is mentioned.^[14]
• 1821 – "the Game of de la Crosse or Baggatiway".^[5]
• 1850 – Etymonline's first date.^[6]
• 1860 – the modern rules are laid down in Canada.^[6]
• 1867 – the OED's first record, in a title.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A team ball game that began among the Native Americans, in which players catch, carry and throw the ball with long-handled sticks ending in a net pouch and try to send it into the other team's goal.^{[15][2][11][9]}

Word family

• box lacrosse

Related words

• crosse
• crosier
• crook
• crutch

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c Dollinger, Stefan, ed., A Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles, 3rd ed. (online), Vancouver: University of British Columbia, dchp.arts.ubc.ca
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
8. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d e Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
13. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
14. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
15. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins