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Origin and history of nock

nock(n.)

"a notch," specifically, in archery, "the notch on the horn of a bow," where the string is fastened, also "notch on the end of an arrow," which rests on the string, late 14c., nokke, a word of uncertain origin, probably from a Scandinavian source (such as Swedish nock "notch"), or a continental Germanic one such as Low German nokk, Middle Dutch nocke, Dutch nok "tip of a sail" or other similar words denoting projections or tips. Perhaps connected to nook.

nock(v.)

mid-14c., "make a notch in;" 1510s, "fit (the nock of an arrow) to a bowstring;" from nock (n.). Related: Nocked; nocking.

also from mid-14c.

Entries linking to nock

nook(n.)

c. 1300, noke, "angle formed by the meeting of two lines; a corner of a room," a word of unknown origin. Possibly from Old Norse and connected with Norwegian dialectal nokke "hook, bent figure," or from Old English hnecca "neck," but the sense evolution would be difficult. OED considers the similar Celtic words to be borrowings from English. Meaning "remote or secluded place" is by late 14c.

notch(n.)

"a v-shaped nick or indentation," 1570s, probably a misdivision of an otch (see N for other examples), from French oche "notch," from Old French ochier "to notch," a word of unknown origin. Said to be unconnected to nock. U.S. meaning "narrow defile or passage between mountains" is from 1718, mostly a New England and New York word for what is called further south a gap.

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    score
    late Old English scoru "twenty," from Old Norse skor "mark, notch, incision; a rift in rock," also, in Icelandic, "twenty," from Proto-Germanic *skur-, from PIE root *sker- (1) "to cut." The notion probably is of counting large numbers (of a passing flock of sheep, etc.) by makin
    mark
    "trace, impression," Old English mearc (West Saxon), merc (Mercian) "boundary, limit; sign, landmark," from Proto-Germanic *markō (source also of Old Norse merki "boundary, sign," mörk "forest," which often marked a frontier; Old Frisian merke, Gothic marka "boundary, frontier,"
    N
    The process also worked in surnames, from oblique cases of Old English at "by, near," as in Nock/Nokes/Noaks from atten Oke...
    Scotch
    "of Scotland," 1590s, a contraction of Scottish. As a noun, by 1743 as "the people of Scotland collectively;" 1700 as "the sort of English spoken by the people of Scotland."  Scots (mid-14c.) is the older adjective, which is from Scottis, the northern variant of Scottish. Sc
    scarify
    late 14c., scarifien, "make shallow incisions in (the body) to let blood or drain pus," from Old French scarifier "score, scrape" leather or hide (14c.), from Late Latin scarificare, from Latin scarifare "scratch open," from Greek skariphasthai "to scratch an outline, sketch," fr
    scribe
    late 12c., "professional interpreter of the Jewish Law" (late 11c. as a surname), from Church Latin scriba "teacher of Jewish law," used in Vulgate to render Greek grammateus (corresponding to Hebrew sopher "writer, scholar"). It is a special use of Latin scriba "keeper of accoun
    line
    a Middle English merger of Old English line "cable, rope; series, row, row of letters; rule, direction," and Old French ligne "guideline, cord, string; lineage, descent" (12c.), both from Latin linea "linen thread, string, plumb-line," also "a mark, bound, limit, goal; line of de
    hermaphrodite
    late 14c. (harmofroditus), from Latin hermaphroditus, from Greek hermaphroditos "person partaking of the attributes of both sexes," as a proper name, the son of Hermes and Aphrodite, who, in Ovid, was loved by the nymph Salmacis so ardently that she prayed for complete union with
    heaven
    Old English heofon "home of God," earlier "the visible sky, firmament," probably from Proto-Germanic *hibin-, a dissimilation of *himin- (source also of Low German heben, Old Norse himinn, Gothic himins, Old Frisian himul, Dutch hemel, German Himmel "heaven, sky"), which is of un
    shenanigan
    "nonsense; deceit, humbug," 1855, American English slang, of uncertain origin. Earliest records of it are in California (San Francisco and Sacramento). Suggestions include Spanish chanada, a shortened form of charranada "trick, deceit;" or, less likely, German Schenigelei, peddle

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