Etymologically
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neck

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English nekke,[2][3] inherited from Old English hnecca (“neck, nape, back of the neck”),[4][2] from Proto-Germanic *hnekk- (“nape of the neck”),[4][2] the source also of Old Frisian hnekka, Middle Dutch necke, Dutch nek, Old Norse hnakki and German Nacken “nape”.[4][2][5] It has no certain cognates outside Germanic,[4] though Barnhart and Hoad compare Old Irish cnocc “hill” and Welsh cnwch “joint, protuberance”.[2][5] The verb is from the noun.[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English hnecca, the back of the neck: before 899, in Alfred's translation of Gregory's Pastoral Care,[2] about 897 in the OED.[6]

Semantic evolution

In Old English the word was rare;[7] the usual words were hals, the general Germanic word, and sweora, swira,[4] which as halse and swire survive only in Scots and northern dialect.[7] As draught animals were yoked by the neck, it became a symbol of burdens and submission, and of obstinacy, as in stiff-necked;[4] figuratively “life” is from the late 15th century, from executions.[4] The narrow part of a bottle is from the late 14th century,[4] the part of a garment around the neck from the 1520s,[4][6] an isthmus or narrow strip of land from the 1550s,[4] and the neck of a stringed instrument from the 1610s.[4] Horses have won races by a neck since at least 1791, hence neck and neck;[7] neck of the woods is from a 17th-century American use of neck for a narrow strip of woodland.[7] The verb, “to kill by a blow on the neck”, is from the mid-15th century,[4][6] and “to kiss and caress” from 1825, first in northern English dialect.[4][2] Neckerchief is from about 1384,[2] necklace from about 1590,[2] and necktie from 1838.[2]

Timeline

  • a. 899 – the back of the neck.[2]
  • c. 1450 – verb, to strike on the neck.[6]
  • 1550s – an isthmus.[4]
  • c. 1590 – necklace.[2]
  • 1791 – to win by a neck.[7]
  • 1825 – verb, to kiss and caress.[4][2]
  • 1838 – necktie.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The part of the body joining the head to the shoulders.
  2. The part of a garment around or near the neck.
  3. A narrow part joining two parts, as of a bottle, bone or organ.
  4. The long, narrow part of a stringed instrument, holding the fingerboard.
  5. A narrow strip of land or water.
  6. A narrow margin: won by a neck.

Verb

  1. (informal) To kiss and caress amorously.
  2. To kill a fowl by breaking or cutting its neck.

Word family

  • neckless
  • necker
  • necklike
  • necking
  • neckerchief
  • necklace
  • necktie

Usage notes

In south-western counties, and in Yorkshire, Pembrokeshire and Cornwall, the neck was the last handful or sheaf of corn cut at harvest, a word of unknown origin.[6][8][9]

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)