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
- Having little height; not high or tall.
- Near the ground or below the usual level.
- Below the average in amount, value or degree: low prices.
- Deep in pitch; not loud.
- Humble in rank or status.
- Coarse, vulgar or dishonourable.
- Depressed; in poor spirits.
Adverb
- In or to a low position, level or degree.
- Softly, or in a deep voice.
Noun
- A low level, point or degree.
- (meteorology) An area of low atmospheric pressure.
- 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
Modern meaning
Verb
- Of cattle, to moo.
Noun
- The deep sound made by cattle; a moo.
Related words
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
- ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- ^ 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
- ^ 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
- ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
- ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d e f Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
- ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press