eldertongue

Old English · noun

læce

Normalised lǣċe

Part of speech
noun, masculine
Declension
strong ja-stem
IPA
/ˈlæː.t͡ʃe/
Syllables
ˈlæː · t͡ʃe (2 syllables)
Modern English
leechdoctorphysicianblood-suckinginvertebratemedical

læce1 · noun · masculine

Senses

  1. doctor (physician)

    Hine man sċeal lǣdan tō þām lǣċe.

    He should be taken to the doctor.

    late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy

  2. medical

Declension · strong ja-stem

Declension of læce
SingularPlural
Nominative lǣċelǣċas
Accusative lǣċelǣċas
Genitive lǣċeslǣċa
Dative lǣċelǣċum

læce2 · noun · masculine

Senses

  1. leech (blood-sucking invertebrate)

Declension · strong ja-stem

Declension of læce
SingularPlural
Nominative lǣċelǣċas
Accusative lǣċelǣċas
Genitive lǣċeslǣċa
Dative lǣċelǣċum

All forms (5)

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *lākī, from Proto-Germanic *lēkijaz. Cognate with Old Frisian lētza, Old Saxon lāki, Old High German lāhhi, Old Norse *lækir, Gothic (lēkeis).

Probably assimilated to Etymology 1 above, by popular etymology, though its use probably predated the term for a doctor. Of uncertain ultimate origin, but possibly from a Germanic base meaning “to pluck, tear” (compare Old High German liochan (“to tear”)), evolving into “to suck”, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewǵ- (“to break, tear”), see also Ancient Greek λευγαλέος (leugaléos), λυγρός (lugrós), Sanskrit रुजति (rujati, “to break open, shatter, injure, cause pain”), Latvian lauzt (“to break, fracture”). Cognate with Middle Dutch lake, leke (modern Dutch laak).

Descendants

leech

Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · en.wiktionary.org/wiki/læce · CC BY-SA 4.0 licence · Attribution