clay English · revision 6196

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1000|origins=gem-pro *klaijaz}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /kleɪ/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English clai, cley, [[inh|ang|clǣg|t=stiff, sticky earth, clay]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)^(Etymonline) from [[gem-pro|*klaijaz]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) which is also the source of [[ofs|klai]], [[osx|klei]], [[nl|klei]] and [[goh|klīwa|t=bran]] (German Kleie).^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) It is related to Old English [[m|ang|clām|t=mud, clay]] (see [[clammy]]),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) and outside Germanic to [[grc|γλία|tr=glía|t=glue]] and [[m|grc|γλοιός|tr=gloiós|t=sticky matter]] and [[la|glūten|t=glue]] (see [[glue]]),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)^(Etymonline) from a PIE root meaning slime or glue.^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old English clǣg, about 1000, in Ælfric's ''Glossary'';^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) the compound cleyputh, clay pit, is about 1241, and clai is before 1325 in ''Cursor Mundi''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In early use the toughness and stickiness of the substance seem to have been its main feature.^(OED 1989) Loosely, earth, moist earth or mire, especially the earth over a grave, is from before 1300,^(OED 1989) and earth as the material of the human body, after Genesis 2:7, and hence the body itself as opposed to the soul, also from before 1300.^(OED 1989) ''To moisten one's clay'', to drink, is humorous from 1708,^(OED 1989) and ''feet of clay'', a hidden weakness in someone admired, after Daniel 2:33, is from 1814.^(OED 1989) The verb, to treat or cover with clay, is late Middle English.^(SOED 2002) In Scots and English dialect a clay-bigging was a hut built of clay.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1000 – Old English clǣg, in Ælfric.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1241 – cleyputh, clay pit.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * before 1300 – the body as made of clay.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1708 – to moisten one's clay.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1814 – feet of clay.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A fine-grained, firm earth that is [[plastic]] when wet and hardens when fired, used to make bricks and [[pottery]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Moist, sticky earth; mud.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The human body, as opposed to the [[soul]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A material such as modelling clay used for shaping.^(AHD)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To treat or cover with clay.^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[clayey]]

+ * [[clayish]]

+ * [[claylike]]

+ * [[claybank]]

+ * [[claypan]]

+ * [[clayware]]

+ * [[claymation]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[clammy]]

+ * [[glue]]

+ * [[gluten]]

+ * [[cleave]]

+ * [[climb]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}