lac

Forms

lac m (oblique plural las; nominative singular las)^[1]

• lach, lak, lake^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin lacus (“tub, basin; lake”).^[1][3][4][5] The inherited form of the same Latin word was lai, which had little vitality and was displaced by the borrowing.^[3][6][5] The FEW and the TLFi allow that the sense “pit” may also have come north from Old Occitan lac.^[5][7]

The Latin word continues Proto-Italic *laku- and Proto-Indo-European *lok-u- (“lake”), whose cognates include Old Irish loch, Ancient Greek λάκκος (lákkos, “pond”) and Old English lagu.^[8] Its Romance continuations include Italian lago, Spanish lago and Romanian lac.^[9] Wiktionary adds that early Middle English lac may have helped it displace the inherited form.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Cambridge Psalter, an Anglo-Norman interlinear translation of the first half of the 12th century, where the word means a pit.^[5][10][11] Bloch–Wartburg and the DHLF date it about 1120, and the DHLF ascribes the sense “pit” to Christian Latin.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The sense “lake” is recorded from Chrétien de Troyes's Erec et Enide, 1165–1170, which names Lanceloz del Lac.^[5][12] The sense “pit” lasted into the 14th century, in Guillaume de Machaut's lac aus lyons, the lions' den of Daniel.^[5][13] The AND also records the pit of Hell and a wine-vat or wine-press, perhaps from a misreading of lacus in Revelation.^[2] The word survives as French lac.^[5]

Timeline

• 1100–1150 – lac “pit” in the Cambridge Psalter.^[5][10][11]
• c. 1120 – the date Bloch–Wartburg and the DHLF give.^[3][4]
• 1165–1170 – “lake” in Chrétien de Troyes's Erec et Enide.^[5][14]
• c. 1225 – lac in the prose Queste del saint Graal.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. a lake, body of water.^[2][16][1]
2. a pit, hole, den; the pit of Hell.^[2][13][1]
3. a ditch, trench.^[1]
4. a wine-vat or winepress.^[2]

Anglo-Norman

The AND heads the word lac, first cites it from the first half of the 12th century, and lists lach, lak and lake.^[2] It has a separate article for the inherited lai in the same senses, first cited in the third quarter of the century.^[17] Middle English lake continues Old English lacu and was reinforced by Latin and by the Old French word.^[18][19]

Descendants

• Middle French lac (→ French lac)^[1][5]
• Norman lac^[1]
• Middle English lake (partly borrowed; → English lake)^[18][19]

Related words

• lai

Usage notes

Tobler–Lommatzsch, the AND, the DÉCT and Godefroy all head the word lac.^[16][2] The spelling lac also stands for a word for “milk”, from Latin lac.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–), p. s.v. lac
3. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France, p. 397
4. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. lac
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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
6. ^ Gamillscheg, Ernst (1966–1969), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der französischen Sprache, 2nd, fully revised ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 586
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5:126
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. lacus
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 4836
10. ^ a b Möhren, Frankwalt, Dictionnaire étymologique de l'ancien français (DEAF): Complément bibliographique, electronic version (DEAFBiblEl), Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, alma.hadw-bw.de/deafbibl (texts by siglum, with their dates), p. PsCambrM
11. ^ a b Stein, Achim; Kunstmann, Pierre; Gleßgen, Martin-D., eds., Nouveau Corpus d'Amsterdam, version 4 (lemmatised corpus of Old French texts, after A. Dees), Universität Stuttgart, github.com/michaniets/NCA (texts by DEAF siglum), p. PsCambrM
12. ^ Godefroy, Frédéric (1881–1902), Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle, 10 vols., Paris: Vieweg / Bouillon, p. 10:58
13. ^ a b Godefroy, Frédéric (1881–1902), Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle, 10 vols., Paris: Vieweg / Bouillon, p. 4:689
14. ^ Möhren, Frankwalt, Dictionnaire étymologique de l'ancien français (DEAF): Complément bibliographique, electronic version (DEAFBiblEl), Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, alma.hadw-bw.de/deafbibl (texts by siglum, with their dates), p. ErecF
15. ^ UD Old French PROFITEROLE and UD Middle French PROFITEROLE treebanks, Universal Dependencies (from the SRCMF and the Base de français médiéval; texts by DEAF siglum), p. Graal_1225_prose
16. ^ a b Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 5:32
17. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–), p. s.v. lai
18. ^ a b 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)
19. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com