loch

See also: Loch, lòch, łöch, and Łoch

English

WOTD – 30 November 2018

Pronunciation

Alfred de Bréanski, Loch Ness (19th–20th century), from a private collection. Loch Ness, a loch (etymology 1) in the Scottish Highlands, UK, is reputedly inhabited by the Loch Ness monster.
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /lɒx/, /lɒk/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /lɑx/, /lɑk/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -ɒx, -ɒk

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Scottish Gaelic loch,[1] ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lókus (pond; pool).

Noun

loch (plural lochs)

  1. (Ireland, Scotland) A lake.
    • 1802 November 1, “Account of the Drainage of the Lochs at Leuchars and Cotts, in the County of Moray”, in The Farmer’s Magazine: A Periodical Work, Exclusively Devoted to Agriculture, and Rural Affairs, volume III, number XII, Edinburgh: Printed by D. Willison, for Archibald Constable, [...], OCLC 185027273, pages 453–454:
      The greater part of Leuchars Loch belonged to the Inneses of Leuchars, Cotts to the Inneses of Innes; and while thus poſſeſſed, many unſucceſsful attempts to drain both, by canals, to the river Loſſie, ſeem to have been made. [] [A] very ordinary fall of rain raiſes it [the river] far beyond its natural bounds; and the immediate conſequence of ſuch floods, was, the ſpeat-water flowing into thoſe lochs, by the canal, and covering the adjacent meadows.
    • 1840, John Colquhoun, “Loch-fishing”, in The Moor and the Loch: [], Edinburgh: William Blackwood & Sons; London: T[homas] Cadell, OCLC 558389688, page 56:
      But, enchanting as are the woodland banks of the quiet stream, there is to me a higher and yet more powerful charm in the solitary wildness or savage grandeur of the Highland loch.
    • 1855, Philip Gilbert Hamerton, “Notes [on the poem The Isles of Loch Awe]”, in The Isles of Loch Awe and Other Poems of My Youth, London: W. E. Painter, [], OCLC 4008043, page 91:
      This book may possibly fall into the hands of tourists in the Highlands; and if it should induce any one to visit the Isles of Loch Awe, a few words on my part may save him a good deal of trouble. The inns are so badly situated that no visitors but sportsmen and painters ever think of staying long at Loch Awe. The hotel at Dalmally is an old inconvenient house, three miles from the loch, and wants rebuilding. The inn at Cladich is a mile from the loch, and the footpath in wet weather is almost impassable.
    • 1903 September 11, “The Late Mr. James M. Gale”, in W[illiam] H[enry] Maw and J[ames] Dredge [Jr.], editors, Engineering: An Illustrated Weekly Journal, volume LXXVI, London: Offices for advertisements and publication—35 & 36, Bedford Street, Strand, W.C., ISSN 0013-7782, OCLC 741850108, page 351, column 2:
      Mr. [James M.] Gale's scheme for doubling the [water] supply was carried through both Houses of Parliament, and was at once put into construction. It especially included the raising of the boundaries of the loch, and it brought into assistance and use other lochs in the Loch Katrine area; and Glasgow and its suburbs are now supplied with water as no other community in the kingdom is supplied.
    • 2010 January, Rick Emmer, “Into the Limelight”, in Loch Ness Monster: Fact or Fiction? (Creature Science Investigation), New York, N.Y.: Chelsea House Publishers, Infobase Publishing, →ISBN, page 28:
      [] Marmaduke Wetherell was hired by the Daily Mail newspaper to lead a search for the lair of the Loch Ness Monster. [] To everyone's surprise, within a few days of the start of his search, Wetherell came across a huge, four-toed footprint along the shoreline of the loch. This was just the sort of sensational story the newspaper was hoping for.
  2. (Ireland, Scotland) A bay or arm of the sea.
    • 1865, James G[lass] Bertram, “Fish Life and Growth”, in The Harvest of the Sea: A Contribution to the Natural and Economic History of the British Food Fishes, London: John Murray, [], OCLC 8304871, page 28:
      It is well known, for instance, that the superiority of the herrings caught in the inland sea-lochs of Scotland is owing to the fish finding there a better feeding-ground than in the large and exposed open bays. Look, for instance, at Lochfyne: the land runs down to the water's edge, and the surface water or drainage carries with it rich food to fatten the loch, and put flesh on the herring; and what fish is finer, I would ask, than a Lochfyne herring?
    • 2010, Martyn S. Stoker; Charles R. Wilson; John A. Howe; Tom Bradwell; David Long, “Paraglacial Slope Instability in Scottish Fjords: Examples from Little Loch Broom, NW Scotland”, in J[ohn] A. Howe, W. E. N. Austin, M. Forwick, and M. Paetzel, editors, Fjord Systems and Archives (Geological Society Special Publication; no. 344), London: Published by The Geological Society, →ISBN, page 227, column 1:
      Little Loch Broom is a NW trending sea loch situated approximately 10 km west of Ullapool []. The flanks of the loch are characterized by rugged headlands backed by mountains such as An Teallach to the south and Beinn Ghobhlach to the north.
Synonyms
Hyponyms
Derived terms
Terms derived from loch
Translations

Etymology 2

See lohoch.

Noun

loch (plural lochs)

  1. Alternative form of lohoch (medicine taken by licking)
    • 1859, Al[fred François] Donné, “Of Professional Nurses”, in Mothers and Infants, Nurses and Nursing. [], Boston, Mass.: Phillips, Sampson and Company, OCLC 4303262, page 67:
      We may obtain, then, a just idea of the constitution of this liquid [milk], if we look upon it as a soft, liquid substance, a kind of loch,* in which caseine, sugar, &c., are dissolved, and in which the fatty or oily substance is distributed in small, rounded atoms. [Footnote *: Loch, or lohoch, is an Arabian name for a medicine of a consistence between an electuary and a sirup, and usually taken by licking. []]
    • 1897, George du Maurier, “Part Seventh”, in The Martian: A Novel (Bell’s Indian and Colonial Library), London; Bombay: George Bell and Sons, OCLC 6984012, page 324:
      Uncle James had caught a cold too, so I went with Grissel; and found a chemist who'd been in France, and knew what a loch was and made one for me; []
    • 2011, Graeme Tobyn; Alison Denham; Margaret Whitelegge, “Hyssopus officinalis, Hyssop”, in The Western Herbal Tradition: 2000 Years of Medicinal Plant Knowledge, Edinburgh; London: Churchill Livingstone, →ISBN, page 195, column 2:
      [Rembert] Dodoens specifically recommends the preparation of a lohoch or loch – a 'licking medicine', of middle consistency, between a soft electuary and a syrup – for relief of obstruction, shortness of breath and an old, hard cough.

References

Further reading

Anagrams


Cimbrian

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle High German loch, from Old High German loh, from Proto-Germanic *luką (lock). Cognate with German Loch, Dutch lok, English lock, Icelandic lok.

Noun

loch n

  1. (Luserna) hole

References

  • “loch” in Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Ünsarne Börtar [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

Czech

Etymology

Borrowed from German Loch (hole).

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -ox

Noun

loch m

  1. (colloquial) nick, slammer (prison)

Declension

Synonyms

Further reading

  • loch in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
  • loch in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

French

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /lɔk/

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Dutch log.

Noun

loch m (plural lochs)

  1. (nautical) chip log, log

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English loch, from Scottish Gaelic loch.

Noun

loch m (plural lochs)

  1. loch

Further reading


Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish loch, from Proto-Indo-European *lakus (compare Latin lacus, Old English lagu).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /l̪ˠɔx/
  • (file)

Noun

loch m (genitive singular locha, nominative plural lochanna)

  1. lake

Declension

Derived terms

Descendants


Old Irish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /l͈ox/

Etymology 1

From Proto-Indo-European *lókus.

Noun

loch n or m

  1. lake
  2. inlet of the sea
Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

Adjective

loch

  1. black, dark
Inflection

This adjective needs an inflection-table template.

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
RadicalLenitionNasalization
loch
also lloch after a proclitic
loch
pronounced with /l(ʲ)-/
loch
also lloch after a proclitic
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Polish

loch

Etymology

Borrowed from German Loch (hole), from Middle High German loch, from Old High German loh, from Proto-Germanic *luką (lock; hole), from Proto-Indo-European *lewg- (to bend; turn).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /lɔx/
  • (file)

Noun

loch m inan

  1. dungeon (an underground prison or vault)
  2. colloquial, regional cellar (esp. a pantry in the cellar)

Declension

Noun

loch f pl

  1. genitive plural of locha

Further reading

  • loch in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Scots

Etymology

Borrowed from Scottish Gaelic loch.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /lɔx/

Noun

loch (plural lochs)

  1. lake, loch, firth

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish loch, from Proto-Indo-European *lókus.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ɫ̪ɔx], /ɫ̪ɔx/

Noun

loch f (genitive singular locha, plural lochan)

  1. lake
  2. arm of the sea
  3. fjord

Derived terms

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