clocca

Forms

clocca f (genitive cloccae); first declension^[1] Medieval spellings include glocca, cloca, clocha and clogga, and a rare neuter cloccum occurs.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Proto-Celtic *klokkos (“bell”),^[1] a Celtic word: Niermeyer labels it Celtic,^[4] and Etymonline compares Old Irish clocc and Welsh cloch “bell”, which suggests it was spread by Irish missionaries, unless the Celtic words are themselves taken from Latin.^[5] The TLL calls the origin uncertain, referring to Thurneysen's study of Celtic words in Romance.^[6]

Etymonline, following the OED, takes the word to be ultimately imitative, echoing the rattle of the early handbells made of sheet iron.^[5] Wiktionary allows either an imitative origin or a link with Proto-Indo-European *klek- (“to laugh, cackle”),^[1] and Köbler compares *kleg- (“to cry, sound”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first dated use in the DMLBS is a letter of Boniface of 747, asking that a bell be sent to him as a great comfort in his life abroad (ut cloccam nōbīs trānsmittātis, grande sōlācium peregrīnātiōnis nostrae).^[7][3]

Semantic evolution

Wiktionary, after the OED, notes that the word is first found in texts from Ireland and that it spread with Christianity through western and northern Europe, while the south kept campāna for the bell.^[1] In the circle of Boniface it was the usual word for a church or monastery bell:^[2][7] Willibald's life of the saint tells of a church bell that moved with no human hand touching it, Alcuin asks for the little bell-house to be roofed with tin, and Rimbert's life of Anskar notes that the pagans had once thought it abominable for a bell to hang in a church.^[2][7] A late tenth-century text says that campānae are also called cloccae.^[2] A Frankish capitulary forbids the baptizing of bells,^[2] and bells were used in the legal ceremony of investiture.^[2]

Later medieval writers in Britain used it for a clock, and for a round riding cloak named from its shape.^[7][1] It was also borrowed as Proto-West Germanic *klokkā,^[1] and probably through Middle Dutch it gave English clock;^[5] the cloak sense passed through Old North French into English cloak,^[5] and French cloche is its direct continuation.^[1][5]

Timeline

• 747 – Boniface asks in a letter for a bell to be sent to him.^[7][3]
• ca. 763–766 – Willibald's life of Boniface tells of a church bell moving by itself.^[2][7][3]
• 764 – A letter of Cuthbert in Boniface's correspondence sends a bell such as he had at hand.^[7][2]
• 801 – Alcuin writes of a bell-house to be roofed with tin.^[7][2]
• c. 866 – Rimbert's life of Anskar mentions a church bell that the pagans had once abhorred.^[2][3]
• 1229 – A record uses it for a riding cloak.^[7]
• late 13th century – English cloak comes from the cloak sense through Old North French.^[5]
• late 14th century – English clock comes from the same word, probably through Middle Dutch.^[5]
• 1397 – The chronicle of Adam of Usk reckons an hour “of the clock” (ad viij de clocka).^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) A bell, especially of a church or monastery.^{[4][2][7][8][1]}
2. (Medieval Latin) A clock.^[7][1]
3. (Medieval Latin) A bell-shaped riding cloak.^[7][1][5]

Word family

• clocula
• clocārium

Related words

• English clock
• English cloak
• English cloche

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 Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson