walk English · revision 3374

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=before 1200|origins=gem-pro *welk-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /wɔːk/, US /wɑːk/, /wɔːk/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|walken]], also walkien,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) a merger of two Old English verbs, [[m|ang|wealcan|t=to toss, roll; to wander]] and [[m|ang|wealcian|t=to roll up, curl, muffle up]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) both from Proto-Germanic *welk-,^(Etymonline) the source also of Old Norse [[m|non|valka|t=to drag about]] and Middle Dutch [[m|dum|walken|t=to knead, press, full cloth]].^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Klein 1966) It is perhaps ultimately from [[ine-pro|*wel-|t=to turn, revolve]],^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2000) but the SOED calls the Germanic base of unknown origin.^(SOED 2002) The noun is from the verb.^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ “To travel on foot, move about”: probably before 1200^(Barnhart 1988) or about 1200.^(Etymonline) Word Origins notes that the Old English verb meant “to roll, toss” and “to wander”, and did not mean “walk” until the 13th century.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The abrupt change in meaning may be from a colloquial Old English use that surfaced in writing in Middle English,^(Barnhart 1988) or from the sense “to be in motion”,^(Etymonline) or from fulling cloth by treading on it, as the cognates and the Old English word walker “fuller”, about 1050, suggest.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) By about 1300 ''walk'' meant “to behave, live in a certain manner”, often in a religious sense, translating Latin ambulāre,^(Etymonline) and by the early 14th century it was used of a ghost or the dead moving about on earth.^(Etymonline) Walking for recreation or exercise is from the mid-14th century.^(Etymonline) The noun, an act of walking, is from the mid-13th century, a path or walkway from the late 14th century,^(Etymonline) and a manner of walking from the 1650s.^(Etymonline) “Way of living” is from the 1580s, hence ''walk of life'' in 1733.^(Etymonline) ''Cock of the walk'' comes from the walk as the place where a game-cock was kept, from the 1610s.^(Etymonline) In baseball a walk is a base on balls, from 1905,^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) and a sponsored walk for charity is by 1971.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1200 – to travel on foot.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * mid-13th century – noun, an act of walking.^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1300 – to live in a certain manner.^(Etymonline)

+ * early 14th century – of a ghost.^(Etymonline)

+ * mid-14th century – walking for pleasure.^(Etymonline)

+ * late 14th century – a path.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1610s – a game-cock's walk.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1733 – ''walk of life''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1905 – a base on balls.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1971 – a sponsored walk.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To move on foot at a pace slower than a run, lifting each foot in turn.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # To go on foot for pleasure or exercise.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # To pass over or through on foot.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # To accompany on foot; to cause an animal to walk.^(AHD)

+ # To conduct oneself or live in a certain way.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # ''(baseball)'' To give a base on balls to.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # An act of walking; a short journey on foot for pleasure.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # A manner of walking; a [[gait]].^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # A path or [[promenade]] for walking.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # A way of life or sphere of activity: ''all walks of life''.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # ''(baseball)'' A base on balls.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[walkability]]

+ * [[walkable]]

+ * [[walkathon]]

+ * [[walker]]

+ * [[walkie-talkie]]

+ * [[walkover]]

+ * [[walk-through]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[walkabout]]

+ * [[walkway]]

+ * [[waulk]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A second verb ''walk'', “to full cloth”, from Middle Dutch walken, is now dialect and historical,^(SOED 2002)^(MWU 2024) and survives in the Scots form ''waulk''.^(SOED 2002) The OED also records an obsolete noun ''walk'', “a cloud”, from 1513.^(OED 1989) In Australian English a ''walkabout'' is a journey into the bush made by an Aboriginal person to renew contact with tradition.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}