Etymologically
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law

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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
  • 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