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In this Adventure in Etymology we unlock connections between the words luxury and lock.
As a adjective luxury [ˈlʌk.ʃə.ɹi / ˈlʌɡʒəɹi] can mean:
- Very expensive.
- Not essential but desirable and enjoyable and indulgent.
As a noun luxury can mean:
- Very wealthy and comfortable surroundings.
- Something desirable but expensive.
- Something that is pleasant but not necessary in life.
It comes from Middle English luxurie [ˈluksjuri(ə)] (lustfulness; sexual desire or attraction; copulation), from Old French luxur(i)e (lust), from Latin lūxuria (luxury, extravangance, lust), from lūxus (a dislocation, extravagance, luxury, excess, debauchery, pomp, splendor), from Proto-Italic *luksos, from Proto-Indo-European *lewg- (to bend, twist) [source].
Words from the same roots include lock, locket and reluctant in English, lok (lock of hair) in Dutch, Loch (hole, perforation, pit, gap, cavity, dungeon) in German, lujuria (lust, excess) and luchar (to fight, battle, struggle, strive) in Spanish, and gollwng (to releasse, drop, leak) in Welsh [source].
Incidentally, one word for luxury in Old English was firenlust / fyrnlust [ˈfi.renˌlust] which also means sinful lust, sinful pleasure, or extravagance, and comes from firen (crime, sin, torment, suffering) and lust (desire, pleasure, appetite, lust) [source].
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The theme tune for this podcast is The Unexpected Badger / Y Mochyn Daear Annisgwyl, a piece I wrote and recorded in 2017.
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I also write about words, etymology and other language-related topics on the Omniglot Blog, and I explore etymological connections between Celtic languages on the Celtiadur blog.
