lacu
- noun [ feminine ]
Grammar
A pool, pond, piece of water, lake
-
Óþ ðæt seó lacu út scýt—cðæt norþ andlang lace
to the point where the water runs out of the lake ... then along the lake,
- Cod. Dip. Kmbl. ii. 250, 26 .
-
Ðonne of exa[n] on ða smala[n] lace of ðære lace eft on exan
then from the Exe to the small pool, from the pool again to the Exe,
- ii. 205, 10 .
-
Tó æscwylles lace heáfdon,
- 24 .
-
Tó æscwylles lace,
- 20 .
-
On Suttúninga lace,
- iii. 211, 23.
-
Andlang foslace,
- 25, 19 .
-
On ða ealdan lace; andlang lace on ða norþeá,
- vi. i. 20.
-
Laca
lacos,
- Wrt. Voc. ii. 51, 52 .
Etymology
Meres and laces, Chr. 656; Erl. 31, 19
:
Laym. ouer þen lac (and MS. þe lake) of Siluius and ouer þen lac (2nd MS. þan lake) of Philisteus
:
Prompt. Parv. lake locus.
It might be supposed that lacu was taken from Latin lacus,
and the fact that the gender of the Latin is not that of the English word does not disprove the supposition;
for feminine porticus gives masculine portic,
and masculine versus gives neuter fers.
And in the specimens of later English just quoted (in Laym. it will be observed
the gender is no longer feminine) it may have been to Latin that the English word is due;
but there may have been at an earlier time a native word
: cf. leccan to water,
and O. H. Ger. lacha; f. palus, botinus, Grff. ii. 100.
]
Linked entries
v.
fisc-lacu.
Entry information
Citation
Bosworth, Joseph. “lacu.” In An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary Online, edited by Thomas Northcote Toller, Christ Sean, and Ondřej Tichy. Prague: Faculty of Arts, Charles University, 2014. https://bosworthtoller.com/20889.
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