Etymograph

English

latch

Latch comes from Middle English lacchen ‘to seize, catch, grasp’, from Proto-Germanic *lakjaną ‘to make wet’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leh₂g-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)leh₂g-reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*lakjaną‘to make wet’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*lakkjan‘to seize’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150læċċan‘to grasp, take hold of, catch, seize’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lacchen‘to seize, catch, grasp’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1606latch

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)leh₂g-reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*lakjaną‘to make wet’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*lakkjan‘to seize’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150læċċan‘to grasp, take hold of, catch, seize’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lacchen‘to seize, catch, grasp’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1606latch

Earliest quotation: c. 1606, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Macbeth: “Where hearing should not latch them.”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)leh₂g-

lake

through Proto-West Germanic *lakkjan ‘to seize’

leach

Another origin of latch

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*lh₂g-ie-reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*lakjaną‘to grasp, seize’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*lakkjan‘to seize’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150læċċan‘to grasp, take hold of, catch, seize’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500latche‘a latch’
  6. Englishtodaylatch

Today it means

verb To close or lock as if with a latch.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *(s)leh₂g- / latch

Shirt and support for this word