lullaby

Etymology

It is formed from English lulla + -by,^[2][3][4] the first part being the soothing refrain lullai, also lollai, common in Middle English cradle songs,^[5][6][7] which the MED, Barnhart and Etymonline derive from lullen (“to lull”).^[5][7][6] The second part is the -by of bye-bye,^[2][3][8][9] a sound used to lull a child to sleep and recorded as “by” from about 1500;^[6] Etymonline allows that it may be simply a meaningless extension.^[6] Collins suggests a blend of lull and goodbye.^[10] The verb lull is imitative of the repeated sounds of singing a child to sleep, like Swedish lulla (“to hum a lullaby”) and Danish lulle,^[2][6] and the OED notes a similar imitative word in Latin lallō.^[2] Johnson connected the word with “Lallus”, whom he said Turnebus took for a god of nurses, and noted that nurses call sleep “by, by”.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

As an interjection, a soothing refrain to quiet infants: lulley by is recorded about 1560 according to Barnhart^[7] and in the 1560s according to Etymonline;^[6] Merriam-Webster dates the refrain to 1573,^[12] and the OED's first record is in the play Misogonus, about 1577.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The refrain lollai already sounds in a Middle English cradle song of about 1335 (“Lollai, lollai, litil child, whi wepistou so sore”), and it was also part of the refrain of a drinking song.^[5] The noun, a song to soothe children to sleep, is recorded from 1588,^[13][7] and in the OED from 1592, in Robert Greene's Pandosto;^[2] figurative and transferred uses follow from 1611.^[2] Shakespeare's Passionate Pilgrim (1599) used the word for “farewell, good night”, a sense the OED records only until 1616.^[2][12] Johnson (1755) defined it as a song to still babes.^[11] The verb is recorded from 1576 according to Merriam-Webster;^[12] the OED's first record is from 1593, in Gabriel Harvey.^[2] Farmer and Henley recorded lullaby as slang for the penis.^[14]

Timeline

• c. 1560 – lulley by, a soothing refrain to quiet a child.^[7][6]
• 1576 – verb, to soothe with a lullaby.^[12] The OED's first record is from 1593.^[2]
• 1588 – noun, a song sung to soothe a child to sleep.^[13][7] The OED dates it to 1592.^[2]
• 1599 – farewell, good night (obsolete by 1616).^[2]
• 1611 – figuratively, anything that soothes or lulls.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A quiet, soothing song sung to lull a child to sleep; a cradle song: The father hummed a lullaby until the twins dozed off.^[10][12][2]
2. The music for such a song.^[10]
3. Anything that soothes or lulls to rest: the lullaby of the rain on the roof.^[2]

Interjection

1. A soothing refrain used to quiet a child.^[2][12]
2. (obsolete, 1599–1616) Good night; farewell.^[2][12]

Verb

1. To soothe or quiet with a lullaby, or as if with one: She lullabied the fretful baby.^[10][12][2]

Related words

• hushaby
• lull
• rock-a-bye
• bye-bye

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
14. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com