Where does “outlaw” come from?

Outlaw comes from Middle English outlawe, from Old English ūtlaga, from Old Norse útlagi, meaning a person excluded from legal protection.

outlaw (English): A fugitive from the law; A criminal who is...

Definitions

  1. A fugitive from the law; A criminal who is...

Ancestry of “outlaw”, step by step

outlaw traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via English Law

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishLawperhaps originally meaning someone who lives near a burial mound
2EnglishspeakerOne who speaks; Loudspeaker; Speakerphone
3English-ineOf or pertaining to; Used to form demonyms;...
4French-inefeminine singular of -in; female equivalent of...
5Frenchpast participle root verb suffix of regular -er...
6Middle Frenchpast participle root verb suffix of regular; -ed, -en, -n
7Old Frenchused to form past participles of regular -er...
8Latin-asuffixed to the roots of verbs, forms agent...
9Proto-ItalicForms masculine agent nouns from prefixed or compounded bases
10Proto-Indo-European-éh₂

via Middle English outlawe

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle EnglishoutlaweAn outlaw or exile; someone deemed outside the protection or jurisdiction of the law
2Old Englishūtlagaoutlaw
3Old Norseútlagioutlaw, fugitive

Words derived from “outlaw

Every word from Proto-Indo-European -éh₂Every word from English -ineEvery word from French -ine