English
Norfolk
Norfolk comes from Middle English Northfolk, and goes back to Old English Norþfolc.
- Old Englishc. 450–1150Norþfolcliterally ‘northern people’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500Northfolk
- Englishearliest quotation 2024Norfolk
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Old Englishc. 450–1150Norþfolcliterally ‘northern people’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500Northfolk
- Englishearliest quotation 2024Norfolk
Earliest quotation: 2024, Donna Ferguson, ‘Britain’s wildlife safari’: baby boom in Norfolk as seal co: “The shoreline – a mass of seals and their…”
A compound of norþ ‘north, northern’ + folc ‘folk, people, race, nation’
Proto-Indo-European *-r ‘Adverbial suffix with locative meaning’
Proto-Indo-European *nér ‘under (the surface)’
Proto-Germanic *nurþraz ‘north, northern’
Proto-West Germanic *norþr ‘northern, northernly’
Old English norþ ‘north, northern’
Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- ‘to fill’
Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁-gós
Proto-Germanic *fulką ‘people’
Proto-West Germanic *folk ‘military, army, troop’
Old English folc ‘folk, people, race, nation’
The story
As an Ecuadorian island, clipping of Duke of Norfolk's Island, bestowed by William Ambrosia Cowley in 1684 honor of Henry Howard, 6th Duke of Norfolk; his son Henry, the 7th duke; or both. As an Australian island and territory, bestowed by James Cook in 1774 in honor of Mary Howard, wife of the 9th duke.
Every English word from Old English Norþfolc
Today it means
name A maritime county of eastern England bordered by Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, Suffolk, and the North Sea.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old English Norþfolc / Norfolk