Etymograph

English

leechcraft

Leechcraft comes from Middle English lechecraft ‘practise of medicine’, from Old English lǣċe ‘doctor’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *lēkijaz.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*lēkijaz‘doctor, physician’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*lākī‘doctor, physician’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150lǣċe‘doctor’
  4. Old English, derivedc. 450–1150lǣċecræft‘medicine’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lechecraft‘practise of medicine’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1829leechcraft

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*lēkijaz‘doctor, physician’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*lākī‘doctor, physician’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150lǣċe‘doctor’
  4. Old English, derivedc. 450–1150lǣċecræft‘medicine’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lechecraft‘practise of medicine’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1829leechcraft

Earliest quotation: 1829, Mrs. Gore: “Smitten with apprehension, I crawled unto the cell of…”

Formed from leech + -craft

Old English lǣċe ‘blood-sucking worm’

Middle English leche ‘blood-sucking worm’

English leech

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₂leg- ‘to care for’

intelligence, intelligent, intellectual, analgesic, analgesia, 10 more

Today it means

noun The art or practice of healing or medicine.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *lēkijaz / leechcraft

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