English
flock
Flock comes from Old English flocc ‘flock, company, troop’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *flukkaz.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*flukkaz‘crowd, troop’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*flokkreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150flocc‘flock, company, troop’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500flok
- Englishearliest quotation 1609flock
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*flukkaz‘crowd, troop’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*flokkreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150flocc‘flock, company, troop’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500flok
- Englishearliest quotation 1609flock
Earliest quotation: 1609, John Taylor: “Good fellows, trooping, flocked me so.”
The story
Related also to Norman fliotchet (‘flock, crowd’), from Old Norse. Perhaps related to Old English folc (‘crowd, troop, band’).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *plewk- ‘to fly, flow, run’
fly, flew, fowler, flee, flown, fowl, floss, flay, fogle, 10 more
Another origin of flock
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*plewk-‘hair, fibres, tuft’uncertain
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*flukkōn-uncertain
- Frankishc. 250–700*flokko‘down, wool, flock’uncertain
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEfloccus‘tuft of wool’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400floc‘tuft of wool’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500flok‘tuft of wool’
- Englishtodayflock
Non-Germanic cognates include Albanian flok (‘hair’).
Today it means
noun A large number of animals associated together in a group; commonly used of sheep, but (dated) also used for goats or other livestock animals, or sometimes any group of animals.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *flukkaz / flock