English
lake
Arose from a conflation of * Middle English lake (“small stream of running water, pool, lake”), from Old English lacu (“stream, pool, pond, lake”), from Proto-West Germanic *laku, from Proto-Germanic *lakō (“stream, pool, body of water", originally "a place where water runs off and collects”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *leg- (“to leak, drain”); with * Middle English lac (“lake”), from Old French lac (“lake, ditch, pit”), a borrowed term, likely from Latin lacus (“lake, tub, vat”) (see Old French lac for more).
The story
The first element is related to Dutch laak (‘stream, drainage ditch, pond’), German Low German Lake, Laak (‘drainage, marshland’), German Lache (‘puddle, pool’), Norwegian løk (‘a deep, slow-moving stream; a widening in a stream or river’), Faroese løkur (‘small brook’) and lækja (‘water hole, well, watershoot in a brook’), Icelandic lækur (‘stream’). Despite their similarity in form and meaning, Old English lacu is not related to English lay (‘lake’), Latin lacus (‘hollow, lake, pond’), Scottish Gaelic loch (‘lake’), Ancient Greek λάκκος (lákkos, “waterhole, tank, pond, pit”), all from Proto-Indo-European *lókus, *l̥kwés (‘lake, pool’).
Another origin of lake
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*leyg-‘to bounce, shake, tremble’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*laikaz‘game, dance, hymn, sport’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*laik‘game, sport’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150lāc‘play, sport, strife, battle, sacrifice, offering, gift, present, booty, message’
- Northern Middle Englishmodernlake
- Englishtodaysame form
Another origin of lake
- Sanskritc. 1500–500 BCEलाक्षाlākṣā‘a species of plant’
- Hindic. 1500–presentलाखlākh‘lac’
- Persianc. 900–presentلاکlâk‘nail polish’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentlaque‘lacquer’
- Englishtodaylake
Today it means
noun A large, landlocked stretch of water or similar liquid.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / lake