lot

Forms

lot m (plural lots)^[1] Old French and Anglo-Norman loz, los, lotz, lout.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Frankish *lot (“share, lot”).^{[2][4][5][6][7]} The Frankish word is reconstructed from its relatives in the other Germanic languages, which all have it, from Proto-Germanic *hlutą: Old High German hlōz (“lot, fate”), German Los (“fate, lottery ticket”), Dutch lot, Old Norse hlutr and the English word lot.^[4][2][1] The Grand Robert notes that Guiraud disputed this origin and saw a Romance word, from Old French loter, from Latin locitō (“to let, hire out”), from locus (“place”).^[5]

Littré compares Spanish lote, Portuguese lote and Italian lotto.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Geffrei Gaimar's history of the English (about 1140) has it, in the plural loz, for a part of a whole shared out among several people.^[2][4][9]

Semantic evolution

Lots were often drawn: jeter au los “to draw one's place at the market by lot” is recorded in 1260 and jeter los “to draw lots” in 1283.^[2][9] From about 1245 the word also meant what chance, fate or nature gives a person.^[2][4] In connection with loterie it named the prize won in a lottery (1680, with gros lot “jackpot”), and by metaphor anything that falls to someone by chance (1805).^[2][4] In finance, obligations à lots (1890) are bonds entered in periodic draws.^[2][4]

Alongside this, lot took in 1429 the concrete sense of a set of goods sold together, as lot de cuirs “batch of hides”.^[2][4] That commercial use lies behind the popular un joli petit lot “an attractive girl” (1907).^[4] In Anglo-Norman and Middle French it was also a measure of wine, which Littré gives as an old liquid measure of four Paris pints.^[3][8] More recently it has rendered the English batch in technical language.^[4][6]

Timeline

• About 1140 – Gaimar writes loz for shares.^[2]
• About 1245 – Philippe Mousket uses it of a person's fate.^[2][4]
• 1260 – Jeter au los appears in Étienne Boileau's book of the trades.^[2]
• 1429 – Lot de cuirs “batch of hides” is recorded.^[2][4]
• 1680 – Richelet records the lottery prize and gros lot.^[2][9]
• 1890 – Obligations à lots appears in finance.^[2][4]
• 1907 – Un joli petit lot is recorded for an attractive girl.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A share or part of a whole divided among several people, especially of an inheritance or of land divided for sale.^[6][10][1]
2. (Canada, history) Land granted to a settler to clear and farm.^[6]
3. A batch of goods sold or given together, also a lot at an auction: un lot de vieux disques.^[6][1]
4. A prize in a lottery: le gros lot “the jackpot”.^[2][8][1]
5. (literary) What falls to someone in life, fate.^[2][8][1]
6. (familiar) An attractive young woman.^[4][1]

Word family

• lotir
• lotissement
• lot de consolation

Related words

• loterie
• loto
• English lot

Usage notes

The final ⟨t⟩ is silent and is not sounded in liaison.^[8] The name of the river and département Lot, /lɔt/, has a separate origin, from the Gallo-Roman Oltis.^[1] Sortir du lot means to stand out from the rest.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 16, 481a
8. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)