English
lawbreaker
Lawbreaker comes from Middle English lawbreker.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lawbreker
- Englishearliest quotation 1979lawbreaker
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lawbreker
- Englishearliest quotation 1979lawbreaker
Earliest quotation: 1979, Monty Python's Life of Brian: “I'm just a poor old man. I have no…”
Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- ‘to lie’
…
Old Norse lag ‘layer, stratum, a laying in order’
Old Norse lǫg ‘law’
Old English lagu ‘law’
Middle English lawe ‘law’
English law
Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- ‘to break’
…
Proto-West Germanic *brekan ‘to break’
Old English brecan ‘to break’
Middle English breken ‘to break’
Middle English brekere ‘a transgressor or violator’
English breaker
Every English word from Middle English lawbreker
Today it means
noun One who breaks (violates) the law, a criminal.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English lawbreker / lawbreaker