reclaim

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English reclaimen, also reclamen,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman recleimer, also Old French reclamer (“to call upon, invoke; to call back a hawk; to claim back”),^[5][3] whose stressed stem gave the English vowel,^[5][6][7] and partly directly borrowed from Latin reclāmō (“to cry out against, protest, appeal”).^[3][2] The Latin verb is formed from re- and clāmō (“to cry out, call”),^[3][8][9] from Proto-Indo-European *kelə- (“to shout”);^[3][8] in post-classical Latin it also meant to claim back, from the 10th century.^[5] The Anglo-Norman verb, recorded from 1121–25, already meant to summon, to call back a falcon and to claim back.^[10] It survives as French réclamer, and Old Occitan reclamar, Spanish reclamar and Italian reclamare are related.^[5][3] The noun is inherited from Middle English reclaim, borrowed from Anglo-Norman recleim, from the verb.^[5][7] In later use the verb was often reanalysed as a prefixed form of claim, hence the pronunciation with a full vowel in the first syllable.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In falconry, to call a released hawk back: early 14th century in Etymonline, of calling a hawk back to the glove,^[3] and before 1393 in Gower's Confessio Amantis in the OED.^[5] Barnhart finds it before 1325 in the Cursor Mundi, meaning to call back, bring back, tame or exclaim.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Hoad traces the senses as calling back a hawk (13th century), recalling or reducing to obedience (14th century), claiming the restoration of something (16th century) and bringing land under cultivation (18th century).^[11] From the falconer's call came taming and subduing an animal, used from Gower until 1898,^[5] and saving a person from vice, also in Gower, which led to "reform" by about 1505.^[5][3] Etymonline notes that many Middle English senses have no clear notion of return, which is common in Middle English words with re-.^[3] The sense "claim back", from the mid 16th century, may reflect the influence of claim.^[6][3] Bringing waste land into use is recorded from 1764, probably from the idea of taming wild animals rather than of restoring a former state,^[3][2] and recovering materials for reuse, at first rubber, from 1892.^[2][6] Trench (1859) observed that the verb had once also meant to cry out against, but now only meant to call back.^[12] In Scots law it meant to appeal to a higher court.^[13] The noun, recorded from 1398 for the recall of a hawk, gained the senses of a legal claim back (1560), reclaimed land (1799), reclaimed rubber (1922) and, chiefly in Britain, baggage reclaim (1969).^[5]

Timeline

• before 1325 – to call back, bring back, tame (Cursor Mundi).^[2]
• before 1393 – to call back a hawk; to save a person from vice; to tame.^[5]
• before 1398 – noun, the recalling of a hawk (obsolete by 1582).^[5]
• c. 1425 – intransitive, to protest, object (now obsolete).^[5]
• 1560 – noun, the claiming back of something.^[5]
• 1764 – to bring waste land into a fit state for use.^[3][2]
• 1892 – to recover materials, especially rubber, for reuse.^[2]
• 1969 – noun, short for baggage reclaim.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To get back something lost or taken away; to claim back: He went to the depot to reclaim his towed car.^[14][6]
2. To make waste land, marsh or land covered by the sea fit for farming or building.^[14][6][2]
3. To recover useful materials from waste: reclaimed timber.^[14][6]
4. To rescue a person from vice or error; to reform.^[14][4][6]
5. (falconry) To tame a hawk or falcon.^[14][6][4]
6. (obsolete) To call back a hawk; to recall.^[4][6][5]

Noun

1. The act of reclaiming, or the state of being reclaimed.^[14][4]
2. (chiefly British) Short for baggage reclaim.^[5]
3. Reclaimed rubber.^[4][5]

Word family

• reclaimable
• reclaimer
• reclamation
• unreclaiming
• reclaimant

Related words

• claim
• exclaim
• clamor

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
11. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
13. ^ 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)
14. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins