Etymologically
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ləʊd/, US /loʊd/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English lode, lade,[2][3] inherited from Old English lād (“way, course, journey; carrying, support”),[3][2][4] from Proto-Germanic *laidō,[2][4][3] also the source of Old High German leita and Old Norse leið “way, road, course”,[3][4] from Proto-Indo-European *leit- (“to go forth”),[3] and related to lead “to guide”.[2][3][5] Its meaning “burden” came from association with lade “to load”, to which it is not etymologically connected.[3][2][4] Lode was at first another spelling of the same word.[6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English lād, a way or carrying, is from about 725, in Beowulf.[2] The modern sense, that which is laid on a person, beast or vehicle to be carried, a burden: about 1200 in Etymonline,[3] before 1225 in the OED,[7] before 1250 in Barnhart.[2]

Semantic evolution

The older senses went with the spelling lode, and the spelling load is from the 16th century.[3][2] The quantity usually loaded at once is from about 1300.[3] A burden on the mind is from the 1590s,[3] a quantity of drink taken from the 1590s,[3] and loads, a great amount, from about 1600.[3] The charge of a firearm is from the 1690s.[3] In building, the pressure on a structure is from 1871,[7] and in electricity the power a system delivers from 1888.[7] Workload is from 1939.[3] The verb, to put a load on, is from before 1470 in Barnhart,[2] the late 15th century in Etymonline;[3] to charge a firearm is from the 1620s,[3] and of computer programs from 1977.[3] Get a load of, take a look at, is American, from 1929, in Damon Runyon,[2][3] and take a load off one's feet from 1914.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – Old English lād, a way.[2]
  • c. 1200 – a burden.[3]
  • c. 1300 – a standard load.[3]
  • a. 1470 – verb.[2]
  • 16th century – the spelling load.[2]
  • 1590s – a burden on the mind.[3]
  • c. 1600 – loads, a lot.[3]
  • 1620s – to load a gun.[3]
  • 1871 – a load on a structure.[7]
  • 1929 – get a load of.[2][3]
  • 1977 – to load a program.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Something carried, as by a vehicle, person or animal; a burden.
  2. The amount that can be carried at one time: a truckload.
  3. A weight or force supported by a structure.
  4. Something that weighs on the mind; a responsibility.
  5. The amount of work expected of a person or machine.
  6. The power delivered by an electrical system or device.
  7. (informal) loads: a great amount.

Verb

  1. To put a load into or onto: load the truck.
  2. To fill nearly to overflowing; to heap.
  3. To weigh down; to burden.
  4. To put ammunition into (a firearm), or film into a camera.
  5. To transfer (a program or data) into a computer's memory.

Word family

  • loader
  • carbo-load
  • reload
  • preload
  • underload
  • unload
  • loaded
  • lode
  • lodestar
  • lade
  • lead

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 k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press