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{{Short description|English language suffix}}
{{No footnotes|date=July 2024}}
The  [[suffix]] {{lang|en|'''-lock'''}} in [[Modern English]] survives only in {{lang|ang|[[:wikt:wedlock|wedlock]]}} and {{lang|ang|[[:wikt:bridelock|bridelock]]}}. It descends from [[Old English]] {{lang|ang|'''-lác'''}}, which was more [[Productivity (linguistics)|productive]], carrying a meaning of "action or proceeding, state of being, practice, [[ritual]]". As a noun, Old English {{lang|ang|lác}} means "play, sport", deriving from an earlier meaning of "sacrificial ritual or [[hymn]]" (Proto-Germanic {{lang|gem-x-proto|*laikaz}}). A putative term for a "hymn to the gods" ({{lang|gem-x-proto|*[[Æsir|ansu]]-laikaz}}) in early [[Germanic paganism]] is attested only as a personal name, [[Oslac]].

==Suffix==
The Old English nouns in {{lang|ang|-lác}} include {{lang|ang|brýdlác}} "nuptials" (from which the now obsolete {{lang|en|bridelock}}), {{lang|ang|beadolác}}, {{lang|ang|feohtlác}} and {{lang|ang|heaðolác}} "warfare", {{lang|ang|hǽmedlác}} and {{lang|ang|wiflác}} "[[sexual intercourse]]", {{lang|ang|réaflác}} "robbery",  {{lang|ang|wítelác}} "punishment", {{lang|ang|wróhtlác}} "calumny" besides the {{lang|ang|wedlác}} "pledge-giving", also "nuptials" (from which {{lang|en|wedlock}}). A few compounds appear only in [[Middle English]], thus {{lang|enm|dweomerlak}} "occult practice, [[magic (paranormal)|magic]]", ''ferlac'' "terror",  ''shendlac'' "disgrace", {{lang|enm|treulac}} "faithfulness", {{lang|enm|wohlac}} "wooing", all of them extinct by the onset of [[Early Modern English]]. The earliest words taking the {{lang|ang|-lác}} suffix were probably related to warfare, comparable to the {{lang|enm|-pleȝa}} ([[:wikt:-play|-play]]) suffix found in "swordplay".

The Old Norse counterpart is {{lang|non|-leikr}}, loaned into [[AB language|North Midlands Middle English]] as {{lang|enm|[[:wikt:-laik|-laik]]}}, in the [[Ormulum]] appearing as {{lang|enm|-leȝȝe}}. The suffix came to be used synonymously with {{lang|enm|-nesse}}, forming abstract nouns, e.g. ''clænleȝȝe'' "cleanness".

==Noun==
The etymology of the suffix is the same as that of the noun {{lang|ang|lác}} "play, sport", but also "sacrifice, offering", corresponding to obsolete Modern English {{lang|enm|lake}} (dialectal {{lang|enm|laik}}) "sport, fun, glee, game", cognate to Gothic {{lang|got|laiks}} "dance", Old Norse {{lang|non|leikr}} "game, sport" (origin of English {{lang|en|lark}} "play, joke, folly") and Old High German {{lang|goh|leih}} "play, song, melody." Ultimately, the word descends from [[Proto-Germanic]] {{lang|gem-x-proto|*laikaz}}. Old English {{lang|ang|lícian}} ("to please", Modern English {{lang|en|[[:wikt:like|like]]}}) is from the same root. In modern English, the noun has been reintroduced through the cognate Swedish {{lang|sv|lek}} as a specialist term referring to [[Lek (mating arena)|mating behavior]].

Thus, the suffix originates as a second member in nominal compounds, and referred to "actions or proceedings, practice, ritual" identical with the noun {{lang|ang|[[:wikt:lác|lác]]}} "play, sport, performance" (obsolete Modern English {{lang|en|[[:wikt:lake|lake]]}} "fun, sport, glee", obsolete or dialectal Modern German {{lang|de|leich}}).

Only found in Old English is the meaning of '(religious) offering, [[Blót|sacrifice]], [[human sacrifice]],' in  ''[[Beowulf]]'' 1583f. of the Danes killed by [[Grendel]], in ''[[Lambeth Homilies]]'' ({{Circa|1175}}) of the sacrifice of [[death of Jesus|Christ]]. In the ''[[Anglo-Saxon Gospel]]'' ({{Circa|1000}}) in [[Gospel of Matthew|Matthew]] 8:4 for {{lang|el|δωρον}}, denoting an offering according to [[613 Commandments|Mosaic law]]. In the 13th century it appears to lose its religious connotations and denotes gifts more generally,  of the offerings of the [[Three Magi]] (''[[Ancrene Riwle]]'' 152, {{Circa|1225}}), and in ''[[Genesis and Exodus]]'' ({{Circa|1225}}, 1798) of the gifts sent by [[Jacob]] to [[Esau]]. From the 14th century, under the influence of {{lang|enm|to lake}} "to move quickly, to leap, to fight", the noun comes to mean "fun, sport" exclusively. In this meaning, it survives into the 19th century in North English dialect in the compound {{lang|en|lake-lass}} "female playmate."

The word is also a compound member in [[Germanic name|given names]], in [[Sigelac]], [[Hygelac]] and [[Oslac (name)|Oslac]].

Oslac has Scandinavian and continental cognates, ''Asleikr'' and ''Ansleih''. Based on this, Koegel (1894) assumes that the term {{lang|gem-x-proto|*ansu-laikaz}} may go back to Common Germanic times, denoting a {{lang|de|Leich für die Götter}}, a hymn, dance or play for the gods in early [[Germanic paganism]]. Grimm (s.v. {{lang|de|Leich}}) compares the meaning of Greek {{lang|el|χορος}}, denoting first the ceremonial procession to the sacrifice, but also ritual dance and hymns pertaining to religious ritual.

Hermann (1928) identifies as such {{lang|gem-x-proto|*ansulaikaz}} the hymns sung by the Germans to their god of war mentioned by [[Tacitus]] and the victory songs of the [[Batavi (Germanic tribe)|Batavi]] mercenaries serving under [[Gaius Julius Civilis]] after the victory over [[Quintus Petillius Cerialis]] in the [[Batavian rebellion]] of 69 AD, and also the "abominable song" to [[Wodan]] sung by the [[Lombards]] at their victory celebration in 579. The sacrificial animal was a goat, around whose head the Lombards danced in a circle while singing their victory hymn. As their Christian prisoners refused to "adore the goat", they were all killed (Hermann presumes) as an offering to Wodan.

==See also==
{{wiktionary|lác}}
*{{lang|non|[[Hörgr]]}}
*{{lang|non|[[Blót]]}}

==References==
*''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]''
*Grimm, ''[[Deutsches Wörterbuch]]''
* Rudolf Koegel, ''Geschichte der deutschen Litteratur bis zum Ausgange des Mittelalters'' (1894), p.&nbsp;8.
*Paul Hermann, ''Altdeutsche Kultgebräuche'', Jena (1928), p.&nbsp;10.[https://web.archive.org/web/20110719111749/http://www.ura-linda.de/buecher/heidueberl.pdf]

{{DEFAULTSORT:-Lock}}
[[Category:English suffixes|Lock]]
[[Category:Germanic paganism|Laikaz]]