law

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /lɔː/, US /lɑː/, /lɔː/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English lawe, inherited from Old English lagu (plural laga),^[2][3] borrowed from Old Norse *lagu, an early plural of lag (“layer, measure; something laid down or fixed”).^[2][4][3][5] It comes from the Germanic base of lay and lie,^[3][6] from Proto-Indo-European *legh- (“to lie, lay”).^[2][7][4] Related Germanic words are Old Saxon gilagu and Old High German urlag (“fate”).^[8][7] Barnhart compares German Gesetz (“law”), from setzen (“to set”), for the same development from “something laid down” to “law”.^[7] The word is not related to Latin lēx, the source of legal.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

An ordinance or rule laid down by authority, and a district governed by the same laws: Old English lagu, before 1000.^[2][7] It was rare in Old English, where the usual words were ǣ and gesetnes.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Law of the land is from about 1300,^[2] and the law of nature, after Latin lēx nātūrae, is alluded to about 1225.^[7] The Mosaic law is the law from 1382,^[10] and the law of nations appears before 1548.^[7] Law and order have been paired since the late 16th century.^[9][2] In science a law has been a statement of a constant order in nature since the 1660s.^[2] To lay down the law (1690s) referred to biblical law.^[2] Dickens's Mr Bumble said that “the law is a ass” in Oliver Twist.^[9] The verb “to go to law” is dated to the late 15th century by the Shorter Oxford,^[3] about 1550 by Merriam-Webster^[11] and the 1640s by Etymonline;^[2] Old English had lagian “to ordain”.^[2]

Timeline

• before 1000 – Old English lagu.^[7]
• c. 1225 – the law of nature.^[7]
• c. 1300 – law of the land.^[2]
• 1382 – the Mosaic law.^[10]
• late 15th century – verb, to litigate.^[3]
• before 1548 – law of nations.^[7]
• late 16th century – law and order.^[9]
• 1660s – a scientific law.^[2]
• 1690s – lay down the law.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A rule of conduct set by custom, agreement or authority.
2. The body of rules that a community enforces; a legal system.
3. A branch of that system: criminal law.
4. The legal profession, or the study of law.
5. A statement of a constant order in nature: the laws of physics.
6. (the Law) The Mosaic law.

Verb

1. (dialect) To go to law; to litigate.

Word family

• lawlike

Related words

• lawing
• lay
• lie
• outlaw
• lawyer
• lawful
• legal

Usage notes

The Cambridge pronouncing dictionary notes that British speakers are sensitive to an intrusive r in law and order, which older speakers deplore but which is often heard.^[1] Two other words are spelled law: a Scots and northern word for a rounded hill (North Berwick Law), a variant of low from Old English hlāw,^[3][12][8] and an interjection of surprise, related to lo and la or a form of Lord.^[3][5]

References

1. ^ a b 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 k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
5. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
6. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
11. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2008), 11th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap