low

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ləʊ/, US /loʊ/^[1]

low¹ not high

Etymology

The adjective is inherited from Middle English lah (later low), borrowed from Old Norse lágr (“low, short; humble”),^[2][3][4] which Etymonline takes as the source because the word is not found in Old English.^[2] It goes back to Proto-Germanic *lega- (“lying flat, low”),^[2] from Proto-Indo-European *legh- (“to lie down, lay”),^[2][5] and is related to lie, “to recline”.^[3][6][7] Its relatives include Dutch laag and Swedish låg.^[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Not rising much, near the ground: lah, about 1175.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The form low is found about 1280.^[3] The sense “humble in rank” is from about 1200, and of sounds, “not loud, deep”, from about 1300.^[2] In geography it referred from about 1300 to the land near the sea, as in the Low Countries (1540s) and Low German (1845).^[2] Of prices it is from about 1400, “undignified” from the 1550s, “dejected” from 1737 and “vulgar” from 1759.^[2] The adverb is from about 1200^[2][3] and the noun from about 1300;^[3] a low, the lowest point, began in card games in 1818 and was used generally by 1911.^[2] Lowly is from the 14th century and lowland from the 16th.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1175 – lah, not high.^[3]
• c. 1200 – humble; adverb.^[2]
• c. 1300 – of sounds; noun.^[2][3]
• c. 1400 – of prices.^[2]
• 1540s – Low Countries.^[2]
• 1737 – dejected.^[2]
• 1759 – vulgar.^[2]
• 1818 – a lowest point.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Having little height; not high or tall.
2. Near the ground or below the usual level.
3. Below the average in amount, value or degree: low prices.
4. Deep in pitch; not loud.
5. Humble in rank or status.
6. Coarse, vulgar or dishonourable.
7. Depressed; in poor spirits.

Adverb

1. In or to a low position, level or degree.
2. Softly, or in a deep voice.

Noun

1. A low level, point or degree.
2. (meteorology) An area of low atmospheric pressure.
3. The lowest gear of a vehicle.

low² to moo

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English lowen, inherited from Old English hlōwan (“to moo”),^[2][3][5] from Proto-Germanic *hlō-, an imitative form,^[2][4] perhaps the same as Proto-Indo-European *kelə- (“to shout”),^[2][5] the root also of Latin clāmāre (“to cry out”) and calāre (“to call”).^[3][4][7] Its relatives include Dutch loeien and Old High German hluoen.^[2][3] It is related to claim.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

To moo: Old English hlōwan, before 1000.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The Middle English form lowen is found before 1300.^[3] The noun, the sound cattle make, is from 1549.^[3][8]

Timeline

• before 1000 – Old English hlōwan.^[3]
• before 1300 – Middle English lowen.^[3]
• 1549 – noun.^[3][8]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. Of cattle, to moo.

Noun

1. The deep sound made by cattle; a moo.

Related words

• below
• lie
• lowly
• lowland
• claim
• clamour

Usage notes

Two other words have the same spelling: low, “a hill, a mound”, from Old English hlāw, now found mostly in place names,^[2][7] and a Scottish and northern low, “a flame”, from Old Norse logi.^[9][7]

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 o p q r s t u v w Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press