links English · revision 3781

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=931|origins=ang hlinc}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /lɪŋks/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|sco|links|t=sandy, rolling ground near the seashore]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) [[inh|ang|hlincas]], plural of [[m|ang|hlinc|t=rising ground, ridge, bank]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) perhaps from the same Germanic root as [[lean]] “to incline”,^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(NODE 1998) or cognate with Old High German hlanca “side, flank”, as Barnhart and Merriam-Webster suggest.^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) It is unconnected with the singular [[link]], from Old Norse.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old English hlinc, rising ground, is from 931.^(Barnhart 1988) Undulating sandy ground on the seashore is from the 15th century in Hoad and Merriam-Webster,^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) and Scottish and Northumbrian links from 1702 in Barnhart.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was the Scottish word for the kind of landscape in which golf was born,^(Etymonline) the gently undulating turf-covered sand near the shore,^(Cresswell 2021) and it has been part of the names of golf courses since at least 1728,^(Etymonline) when Barnhart and Etymonline record the golfing sense.^(Barnhart 1988) Hoad dates the golf course to the 18th century.^(Hoad 1986) The southern form of the word was Middle English linch, “rising ground, especially between ploughed fields”, which lived on in dialect.^(Etymonline) In Northamptonshire dialect links was a tract of heather.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 931 – Old English hlinc, a ridge.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 15th century – sandy ground by the sea.^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1702 – Scottish links.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1728 – a golf course.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[golf]] course, especially one by the sea.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(COED 2004)

+ # ''(chiefly Scottish)'' Undulating sandy ground covered with turf near the seashore.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[linksland]]

+ * [[linksman]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[link]]

+ * [[lean]]

+ * [[lynchet]]

+ * [[golf]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}