Where does “lakeshore” come from?
Lakeshore combines English lake and shore, where lake derives from Middle English lake, from Middle Dutch laken, from Middle Dutch lac, ultimately from Sanskrit लाक्षा, traced to Proto-Indo-European leg-.
lakeshore (English): The shore of a lake
Ancestry of “lakeshore”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | Lake | — |
| 2 | French | laqué | past participle of laquer; glazed |
| 3 | Middle French | lache | — |
| 4 | Omani Arabic | لك | — |
| 5 | Persian | لاک | — |
| 6 | Urdu | لاکھ | lakh, lac |
| 7 | Maharastri Prakrit | 𑀮𑀓𑁆𑀔 | — |
| 8 | Sanskrit | लक्ष | a mark, sign, token; a mark to aim at, target,... |
| 9 | Sanskrit | लक्ष् | perceive, observe; recognise; to mark, sign |
| 10 | Sanskrit | रक्ष् | to protect, guard, watch, take care of, save,... |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-Aryan | Hrakṣ- | — |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-Iranian | Hrakš- | — |
| 13 | Proto-Indo-European | h₂lek- | to protect |