Etymology
1. "body of water," c.1205, from O.Fr.
lack, from L.
lacus "pond, lake," also "basin, tank," related to
lacuna "hole, pit," from PIE
*lak- (cf. Gk.
lakkos "pit, tank, pond," O.C.S.
loky "pool, puddle, cistern," O.Ir.
loch "lake, pond"). The common notion is "basin." There was a Gmc. form of the word, which yielded cognate O.N.
lögr "sea flood, water," O.E.
lacu "stream,"
lagu "sea flood, water,"
leccan "to moisten" (see leak). The N.Amer.
Great Lakes so called from 1665.
Laker "boat made for sailing on the Great Lakes" is from 1887.
2. From Northern Middle English lake, lak, lac (also laik, layke; Southern loke), from Old English lāc (“play, sport, strife, battle, sacrifice, offering, gift, present, booty, message”), from Proto-West Germanic *laik, from Proto-Germanic *laikaz (“game, dance, hymn, sport”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyg- (“to bounce, shake, tremble”). Cognate with Old High German leih (“song, melody, music”), Old Norse leikr (whence Danish leg (“game”), Swedish leka (“to play”)), and Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌹𐌺𐍃 (laiks, “dance”). Doublet of lek.
3. Verb form partly from Middle English laken, from Old English lacan, from Proto-Germanic *laikaną, from Proto-Indo-European *leyg-. More at lay, -lock. See: Swedish '
leka', Old English '
lacan', Proto-Germanic '
*laikaną'.