hulc

Old English

Etymology

Uncertain. Relation to Medieval Latin hulcus, holcas (“a kind of ship”) is uncertain (the Old English may have borrowed from the Latin or vice versa). Compare also Old High German holcho (“a barge, freighter, cargo ship”), Old Norse holkr (“metal tube, ring", later also "barge, cargo ship”). It's possible that the word is originally the same as Old English holc (“a hollow, cavity”). Alternatively, the various senses may represent separate origins that coalesced into a single term.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /xulk/, [huɫk]

Noun

hulc m

1. a light ship, hulk
2. (Late Old English) a heavy ship of clumsy make
3. hut, hovel, cabin

Declension

Strong a-stem:

	singular	plural
nominative	hulc	hulcas
accusative	hulc	hulcas
genitive	hulces	hulca
dative	hulce	hulcum

Related terms

• āhlocian
• healoc
• holc

Descendants

• Middle English: hulke, holke, hollek, hulk
  • English: hulk

References

• Joseph Bosworth; T. Northcote Toller (1898), “HULC”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, second edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.