English
hulk
Hulk comes from Middle English hulk.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hulk
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1602same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hulk
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1602same form
Earliest quotation: c. 1602, William Shakespeare: “Light boates ſaile ſwift, though greater hulkes draw deepe.”
Formed from hole + -ock
Proto-Germanic *hulaz ‘hollow’
Proto-Germanic *hulą ‘hollow space’
Proto-West Germanic *hol ‘hollow space, cavity’
Old English hol ‘hole, hollow place’
Middle English hole
English hole
The story
From Middle English hulk, hulke, holke (‘hut; shed for hogs; type of ship; husk, pod, shell; large, clumsy person; a giant’) (probably reinforced by Relation to Medieval Latin hulcus (‘ship’) is uncertain, as Old English may have borrowed from Latin or vice versa, but the form holcas rather points to borrowing from Ancient Greek ὁλκάς (holkás, “ship being towed; cargo ship, ship used for trading, holcad”).uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.
Every English word from Middle English hulk
Another origin of hulk
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500holken‘to dig out, hollow out’
- English1500–presentholk‘to dig out, hollow out, make hollow’
- Englishtodayhulk
A variant of holk (‘to dig out, hollow out, make hollow; to dig up, excavate; to dig into, investigate’), from Middle English holken (‘to dig out, hollow out; to dig up, excavate’) (compare holk (‘a hollow; body cavity’)), perhaps from Middle Low German hȫlken (‘to hollow out, gouge’), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *hulaz (“hollow”, adjective); further etymology uncertain, perhaps either from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (‘to cover’), or *ḱewh₁- (‘to swell; to be strong’).uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.
Today it means
noun A large ship used for transportation; (more generally) a large ship that is difficult to manoeuvre.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English hulk / hulk