English

fetlock

Fetlock comes from Middle English fitlokes.

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

Earliest quotation: 1902, John Buchan: “It was the better part of a mile wide,…”

A compound of foot + lock ‘tuft of hair’

Proto-Indo-European *pṓds ‘foot’

Proto-Germanic *fōts ‘foot’

Proto-West Germanic *fōt

Old English fōt ‘foot’

Middle English fot ‘foot’

English foot

Proto-Indo-European *lewg- ‘to bend’

Proto-Germanic *luką

Proto-West Germanic *lok ‘shutter’

Old English loc

Middle English lok

English lock

Every English word from Middle English fitlokes

noun A joint of the horse's leg below the knee or hock and above the hoof.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.