Etymograph

English

slack

Slack comes from Middle English slak, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *slakaz.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*slakazreconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*slakreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150slæc
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500slak
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1611slack

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*slakazreconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*slakreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150slæc
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500slak
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1611slack

Earliest quotation: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “The Lord is not ſlacke cõcerning his promiſe (as…”

The story

For sense of coal dust, compare slag.

Linked words

through Proto-Germanic *slakaz

sludge, slouch

through Old English slæc

slake

Another origin of slack

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*slakōną‘to slack, slacken’reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150slacian‘to slacken, make slack’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500slakken
  4. Englishtodayslack

Another origin of slack

  1. Old Norsec. 800–1350slakki‘a slope’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500slak
  3. Englishtodayslack

Today it means

noun The part of anything that hangs loose, having no strain upon it.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *slakaz / slack

Shirt and support for this word