lake
A large body of fresh water surrounded by land.
Etymology
Modern English lake comes from Old English lacu "stream, pool" and was reinforced by Old French lac and Latin lacus "basin, lake," all from PIE *lókus meaning "lake, pool, body of water." This is one of those rare cases where a word was inherited through Germanic and then reinforced by a Latin borrowing, creating a doublet. The Latin form lacus also produced lagoon (via Italian laguna), while the closely related Greek lákkos meant "pond, cistern." Old Irish loch (as in Loch Ness) descends from the same root and was borrowed into Scottish English. The Germanic branch gives us Old Norse lǫgr "liquid, sea" and Old English lagu "sea, flood" — the same word that may be connected to the legal term law through Norse influence. The PIE root captures the ancient importance of standing water for settlement and agriculture.
The Journey: *lókus → lake
*lókus
*lakō
lacu
lake
lake
Cognates Across Languages
These words in other languages descend from the same PIE root *lókus. They are not borrowings but independent inheritances from a common ancestor.
| Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Latin | lacus | lake, basin |
| Greek | lákkos | pond, cistern |
| Old Irish | loch | lake |
| Old Norse | lǫgr | liquid, sea |
| Gaulish | laco | lake |
Did You Know?
English lake is a rare double inheritance — it came through Germanic (Old English lacu "stream") and was simultaneously reinforced by Latin lacus through French. Meanwhile, Scottish loch is a cousin from the Celtic branch of the same PIE root, and lagoon arrived via Italian from the very same Latin source.