entry
lake
/leɪk/A large body of water enclosed by land
From Proto-Indo-European *leg- (to leak or drain) + Proto-Indo-European *lókus (lake).
from Proto-Indo-European *leg- (“to leak, drain”); with Middle English lac (“lake”)
from Proto-Germanic *lakō (“stream, pool, body of water", originally "a place where water runs off and collects”),...
from Latin lacus "pond, pool, lake," also "basin, tank, reservoir" (related to lacuna "hole, pit"). This is...
+1 more sourcefrom Middle English laken
from Proto-Indo-European *lókus, *l̥kwés (“lake, pool”).
from Latin lacus "pond, pool, lake," also "basin, tank, reservoir" (related to lacuna "hole, pit"). This is...
+1 more sourcefrom Old French lack (12c., Modern French lac ) and directly
+1 more sourcefrom Old French lac (“lake, ditch, pit”), a borrowed term, likely
from Middle English laken
Word Ancestry
from Proto-Indo-European *leg- (“to leak, drain”); with Middle English lac (“lake”)
from Proto-Germanic *lakō (“stream, pool, body of water", originally "a place where water runs off and collects”),...
from Latin lacus "pond, pool, lake," also "basin, tank, reservoir" (related to lacuna "hole, pit"). This is...
+1 more sourcefrom Middle English laken
from Proto-Indo-European *lókus, *l̥kwés (“lake, pool”).
from Latin lacus "pond, pool, lake," also "basin, tank, reservoir" (related to lacuna "hole, pit"). This is...
+1 more sourcefrom Old French lack (12c., Modern French lac ) and directly
+1 more sourcefrom Old French lac (“lake, ditch, pit”), a borrowed term, likely
from Middle English laken
Picture two words arriving at the same English doorstep from opposite directions. One was Old English lacu, a native word for a stream or pond, connected with the idea of water leaking, draining, and gathering; the other was Old French lac, borrowed from Latin lacus, which could mean not only a lake but also a basin, tub, or vat. By the early 12th century, English speakers had effectively let these streams merge into one word: lake. The Latin family leaves some delightful footprints: a lacuna is literally a hollow or gap, as if a missing passage in a manuscript were a little empty basin, while lagoon comes through a related Romance line. And beware the look-alike lāc, an Old English word meaning play, dance, or battle—the ancestor of modern lake only in spelling, not in sense. Remember the word as a meeting of two basins: one filled by leaking Germanic water, the other carried in by a French-speaking traveler from Latin.
The Story
Picture two words arriving at the same English doorstep from opposite directions. One was Old English lacu, a native word for a stream or pond, connected with the idea of water leaking, draining, and gathering; the other was Old French lac, borrowed from Latin lacus, which could mean not only a lake but also a basin, tub, or vat. By the early 12th century, English speakers had effectively let these streams merge into one word: lake. The Latin family leaves some delightful footprints: a lacuna is literally a hollow or gap, as if a missing passage in a manuscript were a little empty basin, while lagoon comes through a related Romance line. And beware the look-alike lāc, an Old English word meaning play, dance, or battle—the ancestor of modern lake only in spelling, not in sense. Remember the word as a meeting of two basins: one filled by leaking Germanic water, the other carried in by a French-speaking traveler from Latin.
Modern Usage
In rare slang, to force someone unwillingly into a lake; another obscure usage treats a great idea as a “lake.”
Notable References
- Urban Dictionary entries for lake
Kin & Kindred
From '*leg-'·to leak or drain; water flowing into a collection basin
Cognates
Related words in other languages
Derived Terms
English words from this root
From '*lókus'·lake, pool, or hollow
Derived Terms
English words from this root
Sources
Free Dictionary
Urban Dictionary
Wikipedia
Wiktionary