Etymograph

English

lick

Lick comes from Middle English likken ‘to lick’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *leyǵʰ-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*leyǵʰ-‘to lick’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*likkōną‘to lick’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*likkōn‘to lick’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150liccian‘to lick’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500likken‘to lick’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1774lick

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*leyǵʰ-‘to lick’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*likkōną‘to lick’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*likkōn‘to lick’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150liccian‘to lick’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500likken‘to lick’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1774lick

Earliest quotation: 1774, Thomas Gray, The Candidate: “When ſly Jemmy Twitcher had ſmugg'd up his face…”

The story

Sense evolution towards violence unclear; not paralleled in any other Germanic language.uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *leyǵʰ- ‘to lick’

lecherous, lichen, cunnilingus, slake, 4 more

Today it means

verb To stroke with the tongue.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *leyǵʰ- / lick

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