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{{short description|Irish and Scottish Gaelic word for a lake or sea inlet}}
{{other uses|Loch (disambiguation)|Lough (disambiguation)}}
{{distinguish|Lock (water)}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
[[File:Ben Lomond Scotland.jpg|thumbnail|300px|right|View of [[Ben Lomond]] across [[Loch Lomond]]]]

'''''Loch''''' ({{IPAc-en|l|ɒ|x}} {{respell|LOKH}}) is a word meaning "[[lake]]" or "[[inlet|sea inlet]]" in [[Scottish Gaelic|Scottish]] and [[Irish Gaelic]], subsequently borrowed into English. In Irish contexts, it often appears in the anglicized form "'''lough'''".<ref>{{cite OED|lough|8929108233}}</ref> A small loch is sometimes called a '''lochan'''. Lochs which connect to the sea may be called "sea lochs" or "sea loughs". 

==Background==
[[File:LochLong(StevePartridge)Nov2007.jpg|upright|thumb|Looking down Loch Long, a long sea loch]]
[[File:Loch Lubnaig (223068248).jpg|thumb|[[Loch Lubnaig]], a reservoir]]
[[File:Lake of Menteith looking towards Port of Monteith.jpg|thumb|The [[Lake of Menteith]] (Loch Innis MoCholmaig)]]
[[File:Loch Derculich near Aberfeldy, Perthshire, Scotland.JPG|thumb|[[Loch Derculich]] in Perthshire]]
This name for a body of water is [[Insular Celtic languages|Insular Celtic]]<ref name="afgh">The current form has currency in the following languages: [[Scottish Gaelic]], [[Irish language|Irish]], [[Manx language|Manx]], and has been borrowed into [[Scots language|Lowland Scots]], [[Scottish English]], [[Irish English]] and [[Standard English]].</ref> in origin and is applied to most lakes in [[Scotland]] and to many sea inlets in the west and north of Scotland.

Many of the loughs in Northern England have also previously been called "meres" (a Northern English dialect word for "lake", and an archaic Standard English word meaning "a lake that is broad in relation to its depth"), similar to the [[Dutch language|Dutch]] {{lang|nl|meer}}, such as the ''Black Lough'' in [[Northumberland]].<ref>{{citation|first=Stan|last=Beckensall|date=2004|title=Northumberland Place-Names|publisher=Butler Publishing|location=Thropton, Morpeth, Northumberland|isbn=978-0-946928-41-5|mode=cs1}}</ref>  

Some lochs in Southern Scotland have a [[Brittonic languages|Brythonic]], rather than [[Goidelic languages|Goidelic]], etymology, such as [[Loch Ryan]], where the [[Scottish Gaelic|Gaelic]] {{lang|gd|loch}} has replaced a [[Cumbric]] equivalent of Welsh {{lang|cy|llwch}}.<ref name="BLITON">{{cite web |last1=Alan |first1=James |title=Brittonic Language In The Old North - A Guide To Place Name Elements |url=http://spns.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Alan_James_Brittonic_Language_in_the_Old_North_BLITON_Volume_II_Dictionary.pdf |access-date=29 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170813011121/http://spns.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Alan_James_Brittonic_Language_in_the_Old_North_BLITON_Volume_II_Dictionary.pdf |archive-date=13 August 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The same is, perhaps, the case for bodies of water in [[Northern England]] named with 'Low' or 'Lough', or else represents a borrowing of the Brythonic word into the Northumbrian dialect of Old English.<ref name="BLITON" />

==Scottish lakes==
Scotland has very few bodies of water called lakes. The [[Lake of Menteith]], an [[Anglicisation]] of the [[Scots language|Scots]] ''Laich o Menteith'' meaning a "low-lying bit of land in Menteith", is applied to the loch there because of the similarity of the sounds of the words ''laich'' and ''lake''. Until the 19th century the body of water was known as the ''Loch of Menteith''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://trossachs.co.uk/lochs/lake-of-menteith/|title=Lake of Menteith &#124; Scotland's Only Lake &#124; Trossachs.co.uk}}</ref>  The [[Lake of the Hirsel]], [[Pressmennan Lake]], [[Lake Louise (Skibo Castle)|Lake Louise]] and [[Raith Lake]] are man-made bodies of water in Scotland, referred to as lakes.

==Lochs outside Scotland and Ireland==
As "loch" is a common Gaelic word, it is found as the root of several [[Manx language|Manx]] place names.{{citation needed|date= May 2024}}

The United States naval port of [[Naval Station Pearl Harbor|Pearl Harbor]], on the south coast of the main [[Hawaii]]an island of [[Oahu|Oʻahu]], is one of a complex of sea inlets. It contains three subareas called 'lochs' named East, Middle, and West<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pearl Harbor Ablaze Again: The West Loch Disaster |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/wars-conflicts-and-operations/world-war-ii/1944/west-loch.html |access-date=2024-11-07 |website=public2.nhhcaws.local |language=en-US}}</ref> or Kaihuopala‘ai, Wai‘awa, and Komoawa.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-03-15 |title=Pearl Lochs |url=https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/pearl-lochs/ |access-date=2024-11-07 |website=Images of Old Hawaiʻi |language=en-US}}</ref>

[[Loch Raven Reservoir]] is a reservoir in Baltimore County, Maryland.

[[Brenton Loch]] in the [[Falkland Islands]] is a sea loch, near [[Lafonia]], [[East Falkland]].

In the Scottish settlement of [[Glengarry County, Ontario|Glengarry County]] in present-day [[Eastern Ontario]], there is a lake called Loch Garry.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lochgarrylakeassociation.ca/lgla-action/ |title=Lochgarrylakeassociation - LGLA Action |access-date=2012-06-15 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020051326/http://www.lochgarrylakeassociation.ca/lgla-action/ |archive-date=2013-10-20 }}</ref> Loch Garry was named by those who settled in the area, [[Clan MacDonell of Glengarry]], after the well-known loch their clan is from, [[Loch Garry]] in Scotland. Similarly, lakes named [[Loch Broom]], [[Big Loch]], [[Greendale Loch]], and [[Loch Lomond (Cape Breton)|Loch Lomond]] can be found in [[Nova Scotia]], along with [[Loch Leven, Newfoundland and Labrador|Loch Leven]] in [[Newfoundland]], and [[Loch Leven, Saskatchewan|Loch Leven]] in [[Saskatchewan]].

[[Loch Fyne (Greenland)|Loch Fyne]] is a [[fjord]] in [[Greenland]] named by [[Douglas Clavering]] in 1823.

==See also==
{{portal|Lakes}}
* [[List of lochs of Scotland]]
* [[List of loughs of Ireland]]
* [[List of loughs of England]]
* [[Ria]]
* [[Lake-burst]]
{{Reflist|group=n}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Wiktionary|loch}}


[[Category:Lakes|*]]
[[Category:Highlands and Islands of Scotland]]
[[Category:Scottish coast and countryside]]
[[Category:Hydronymy]]
[[Category:Lochs of Scotland| ]]
[[Category:Lakes of the Republic of Ireland| ]]
[[Category:Shibboleths]]
[[Category:Lakes of Northern Ireland  ]]