English
cloak
Cloak comes from Middle English cloke ‘cloak, cape’, and goes back to Medieval Latin clocca.
- Medieval Latinc. 600–1500clocca‘travelers' cape, literally “a bell”, so called from the garment’s bell-like shape’
- Old Northern Frenchc. 842–1400cloque‘travelling cloak’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cloke‘cloak, cape’
- Englishearliest quotation 1611cloak
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Medieval Latinc. 600–1500clocca‘travelers' cape, literally “a bell”, so called from the garment’s bell-like shape’
- Old Northern Frenchc. 842–1400cloque‘travelling cloak’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cloke‘cloak, cape’
- Englishearliest quotation 1611cloak
Earliest quotation: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “For neither at any time vſed wee flattering wordes,…”
The story
From Middle English cloke, from Old Northern French cloque (‘travelling cloak’), from Medieval Latin clocca (“travelers' cape, literally “a bell”, so called from the garment’s bell-like shape”), of Celtic origin, from Proto-Celtic *klokkos, ultimately imitative.
Linked words
through Medieval Latin clocca ‘travelers' cape, literally “a bell”, so called…’
Today it means
noun A long outer garment worn over the shoulders covering the back; a cape, often with a hood.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Medieval Latin clocca / cloak