Etymologically
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loan

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ləʊn/, US /loʊn/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English lan, later lon, loan,[2][3] borrowed from Old Norse lán (“loan”),[4][2][5] from Proto-Germanic *laihwniz, from a suffixed form of Proto-Indo-European *leikw- (“to leave”),[4][5] the root also of Greek leípein and Latin linquere “to leave”.[5][3] The Norse word is cognate with Old Frisian lēn, Dutch leen “loan, fief” and German Lehen “fief”,[4][2] and with Old English lǣn “gift, loan”, which did not survive into Middle English, though its verb lǣnan is the source of lend.[4][2][5] It is related to relinquish and eclipse.[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

That which is lent, a thing given on promise of return, and also a gift or reward from a superior: the late 12th century in Etymonline[4] and about 1175 in Barnhart.[2] The OED has the gift from a superior before 1240 and the thing lent before 1300.[6]

Semantic evolution

From the early 15th century (1439) it was a contribution to public finances, ostensibly voluntary but often forced.[4][6] A government's borrowing on its own credit is from 1765.[6] Of a word or custom borrowed by one people from another it is from 1891,[6] and loanword is 19th-century, after German Lehnwort.[5] The verb is attested from about 1200 in the OED[6] and the 1540s in Etymonline;[4] it was once current in England but has been supplanted there by lend, and survives in American English.[4][7] Loan shark is first attested in 1900.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 1175 – a loan.[2]
  • c. 1200 – verb, to lend.[6]
  • before 1240 – a gift from a superior.[6]
  • 1439 – a contribution to public finances.[6]
  • 1765 – a government loan.[6]
  • 1891 – a borrowed word or custom.[6]
  • 1900 – loan shark.[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Something lent for temporary use.
  2. A sum of money lent, usually at interest.
  3. The act of lending; a grant of temporary use: the loan of a car.
  4. A temporary transfer of a person to another job or place.

Verb

  1. To lend.

Word family

  • loaner
  • loanable
  • interloan
  • loanblend
  • loanshift
  • reloan
  • loanword
  • call loan
  • lend
  • relinquish
  • eclipse
  • delinquent
  • ellipse
  • relic
  • lane

Usage notes

The verb loan is well established in American English and not incorrect, though it is used only of physical transactions such as money or goods; lend is required in figurative uses (distance lends enchantment) and fixed expressions such as moneylender.[8][7] A different loan, Scots and northern, means a lane or an open pasture near a farm, a variant of lane (1362).[9][6][10]

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press