In American politics, the idea of “law and order” often comes up, particularly during political campaigns. It is not uncommon for politicians and their supporters to accuse others of crimes, both real and imaginary. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some word histories.
The FBI's crime rate includes seven crime categories: three property crimes -- larceny, burglary, and motor vehicle theft, and four violent crimes -- aggravated assault, robbery, rape, and murder.
The vast majority of crimes in America are property crimes, accounting for 85% of total crimes in 2019. Larceny is by far the most common type of property crime in the U.S. there were 341 reported burglaries for every 100,000 people nationwide in 2019. Across the United States, the annual motor vehicle theft rate is 220 for every 100,000 people.
Briefly described below are the etymologies—word histories—of some of the words used in talking about law and property crimes.
Law
The English word law is from the Old English lagu, meaning “ordinance, rule prescribed by authority, regulation.” The Old English lagu is the plural of laga which mean “laying, good order” which was also used to mean “something laid down, that which is fixed or set.” In his Dictionary of Word Origins, John Ayto writes:
“Etymologically, a law is that which has been ‘laid’ down.”
Going back farther in time, the Old English lagu is from the Old Norse *lagu meaning law, and, like the Old English lagu, the Old Norse is the plural of lag meaning “ layer, measure, stroke.” The Old Norse *lagu is from the Proto-Germanic *lagam meaning “put, lay” which is from the Proto-Indo-European root *legh- meaning “to lie down, lay.” This is also the origin of the English word lay.
John Ayto notes:
“It [law] has no etymological connection with the semantically similar legal.”
The English legal comes from the Latin lex meaning “law.”
Crime
For most people in the United States today, particularly people who are not wealthy and those who are not in political power, failure to adhere to or follow the law—i.e. “to break the law”—is a crime. The English word crime is based on the concepts of Christianity and it came into English in the mid-thirteenth century with the meaning of “sinfulness, infraction of the laws of God.”
The English crime is from the Latin cernere meaning “to decide” which was the basis of the Old French crimne meaning “crime, mortal sin.” English acquired the word from the Old French as a result of the Norman Conquest. Going back farther in time, crime is from the Proto-Indo-European root *krei meaning “to sieve.”
By the late fourteenth century, crime had acquired the meaning of “an offense punishable by law.” The American crime wave is first attested by 1893.
The English word criminal meaning “a person who has committed a punishable offense against public law; a person convicted of a crime by proof or confession” came into use in 1620.
Larceny
In the late fifteenth century, English acquired the word larceny meaning “theft; wrongful or fraudulent taking of the personal goods of another” from the Anglo-Norman *larcenie which, in turn, was from the Old French larcin.
Going back farther in time, larceny is from the Latin latrō which originally meant “mercenary soldier” and which came to mean “robber.” The Latin seems to be from the Greek látron meaning “pay, hire, wages.” The Proto-Indo-European roots is *le- meaning “to get.”
The y ending of larceny many have been influenced by burglary and felony.
The distinction between grand larceny and petty larceny is determined by the value of the property involved.
Burglary
In Old English, the word used to describe the act of breaking in to another person’s house was husbreche. However, the French-speaking Normans in Britain called it burglaria which then became burglary about 1200.
In his Dictionary of Word Origins, Joseph Shipley writes:
“Just as there is a town mouse distinct from a country mouse, so the town thief and the country thief are kept apart. The highwayman still tells us his habitat in his name; but the burglar is a city-practitioner.”
Joseph Shipley then points out that the Germanic word for manorhouse is burg and hence, a burglar is someone who breaks into a burg.
The American term burglarize was coined in 1865 and was condemned in England and Canada as an example of American barbarism. According to a report in the 1865 Upper Canada Law Journal:
“We see in a telegraphic despatch from across the boundary line that a store was "burglarized" a short time ago. We are sorry that any thing so dreadful should have happened to any of our inventive cousins. Truly the American language is ‘fearfully and wonderfully made.’"
Theft
The idea of motor vehicle theft did not, of course, become a concern until automobiles became popular and common in the twentieth century. The word thief first appeared in English in the mid-thirteenth century from the Old English þeofð (West Saxon þiefð) which in turn was from the Proto-Germanic *theubitho.
More Etymology
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Origins of English: Working Words
Origins of English: Coffin and Casket
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