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Origin and history of flock

flock(n.1)

Old English flocc "a group of persons, company, troop," related to Old Norse flokkr "crowd, troop, band," Middle Low German vlocke "crowd, flock (of sheep);" of unknown origin, not found in other Germanic languages; perhaps related to folc "people," but the metathesis would have been unusual for Old English.

In Old English of humans only; extended c. 1200 to "a number of animals of one kind moving or feeding together;" of domestic animals c. 1300. The special reference to birds is recent (19c.). Transferred to bodies of Christians, in relation to Christ or their pastor, from mid-14c.

flock(n.2)

"tuft of wool," mid-13c., also found in continental Germanic and Scandinavian, all probably from Old French floc, from Latin floccus "tuft of wool, lock of hair," a word of unknown origin.

flock(v.)

c. 1300 "gather, congregate" (intransitive), from flock (n.1). Related: Flocked; flocking.

also from c. 1300

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fold
Middle English folden, "bend, bow down," from Old English faldan (Mercian), fealdan (West Saxon), transitive, "to bend (cloth) back over itself, wrap up, furl," class VII strong verb (past tense feold, past participle fealden), from Proto-Germanic *falthan, *faldan (source also o
troop
1540s, "body of soldiers," 1540s, from French troupe, from Old French trope "band of people, company, troop, crowd" (13c.), a word of uncertain origin, perhaps from Frankish *throp "assembly, gathering of people" or another Germanic source, perhaps related to Old English ðorp, Ol
batch
late 15c., probably from a survival of an unrecorded Old English *bæcce "something baked" (compare Old English gebæc) from bacan "bake" (see bake (v.)). The generalized sense of "an aggregation of similar articles" is from 1590s. Batch is to bake as watch (n.) is to wake and matc
aggregate
aggregatus, past participle of aggregare "attach, join, include; collect, bring together," literally "bring together in a flock...," from assimilated form of ad "to" (see ad-) + gregare "to collect into a flock, gather," from grex (genitive gregis) "a...flock" (from PIE root *ger- "to gather")....
congregate
originally of fluids in the body, from Latin congregatus, past participle of congregare "to herd together, collect in a flock..., swarm; assemble," from assimilated form of com "together" (see con-) + gregare "to collect into a flock, gather," from...grex (genitive gregis) "a flock" (from PIE root *ger- "to gather")....
segregate
from Latin segregatus, past participle of segregare "set apart, lay aside; isolate; divide," literally "separate from the flock...," from *se gregare, from se "apart from" (see se-) + grege, ablative of grex "herd, flock" (from PIE root *ger- "to gather...Originally often with reference to the religious notion of separating the flock of the godly from the sinners, later scientifically...
aggregation
past-participle stem of Latin aggregare "collect, bring together," from ad "to" (see ad-) + gregare "to collect into a flock..., gather," from grex (genitive gregis) "a flock" (from PIE root *ger- "to gather")....
plenty
mid-13c., "abundance; as much as one could desire; an ample supply," from Old French plentee, earlier plentet "abundance, profusion" (12c., Modern French dialectal plenté), from Latin plenitatem (nominative plenitas) "fullness," from plenus "full, filled, greatly crowded; stout,
mass
late 14c., "irregular shaped lump; body of unshaped, coherent matter," from Old French masse "lump, heap, pile; crowd, large amount; ingot, bar" (11c.), and directly from Latin massa "kneaded dough, lump, that which adheres together like dough," probably from Greek maza "barley c
pile
early 15c., "heap or stack of something," usually consisting of an indefinite number of separate objects arranged in a more or less regular conical or pyramidal form, from Old French pile "a heap, a stack," and directly from Latin pila "a pillar," also "stone barrier, pier" (see

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