NODE / 0501reconstructedProto-Germanic
*lagam
a laying down; what is fixed or set
- DATE
- Proto-Germanic prehistory
- SENSE
- laid down order
- FAMILY
- Indo-European / Germanic
- CANONICAL KEY
- node:5:lagam:reconstructed:sense:laid-down-order
Reconstruction and exact inflectional representation vary across reference traditions.
*This form is reconstructed by comparison. It is not directly attested in this exact written form.
01ANCESTRAL EDGES
ROOT OF THIS ROOT
GO DEEPERinheritanceprobable
Proto-Indo-European · Indo-European prehistory*legh-
to lie, recline, lay, or set down
- SOUND
- Proto-Germanic *lagam reflects an o-grade formation in the PIE *legh- “lie, lay” family.
- MEANING
- The concrete act of laying becomes an established order and law.
- SCHOLAR
- American Heritage · UT LRC · Etymonline editors
- CONFIDENCE
- probable — The broad comparative family is secure; exact intermediate morphology is reconstructed.
02DIRECT DESCENDANT EDGES
THE NEXT HISTORICAL STEP
03TRANSITIVE DESCENDANT CLOSURE
EVERY REVIEWED BRANCH FROM HERE
This is the complete downstream closure currently supported by the canonical graph. Every displayed step is a real reviewed edge with its own sound claim, meaning claim, scholar, confidence, and citations.
- UNIQUE DESCENDANT NODES
- 4
- REVIEWED EDGES
- 4
- DEEPEST PATH
- 4
- MODERN DOSSIERS REACHED
- 1
HISTORICAL STEP 011 EDGE
STEP 01inheritanceprobable
- SOUND
- Old Norse lag and lög reflect a reconstructed Germanic *lagam formation in the lay-family.
- MEANING
- A layer, laying, or ordered placement supplies the legal sense “what is laid down.”
American Heritage · UT LRC · Cleasby–Vigfusson2 CITATIONSEDGE 467 ↗ HISTORICAL STEP 021 EDGE
STEP 02borrowingestablished
- SOUND
- Old English adapts a Scandinavian law-word represented by Old Norse lǫg / lög and lag.
- MEANING
- What is laid down or put in order becomes a prescribed rule and legal institution.
Merriam-Webster · Etymonline editors2 CITATIONSEDGE 466 ↗ HISTORICAL STEP 031 EDGE
STEP 03inheritanceestablished
- SOUND
- Old English lagu continues into Middle English with loss of final unstressed -u and spelling variation including laue and lawe.
- MEANING
- Ordinance, rule, and legal order remain central.
Merriam-Webster · Etymonline · UT LRC editors2 CITATIONSEDGE 465 ↗ HISTORICAL STEP 041 EDGE
STEP 04historical continuationestablished
- SOUND
- Middle English lawe / laue stabilizes as law while later English vowel history produces the modern pronunciation.
- MEANING
- The inherited legal-rule sense expands to bodies of law, professions, and regular principles in science.
Merriam-Webster · Etymonline editors2 CITATIONSEDGE 464 ↗ “Every” means every descendant in the reviewed SET-U graph. It does not convert missing scholarship or missing ingestion into a claim of historical completeness. The coverage ledger remains the honest denominator.
04RECORDED EVIDENCE
ATTESTATIONS / FIRST KNOWN USE
NO RECORDED WITNESS ATTACHED.That is expected for a reconstructed form: the node is inferred from comparison, not quoted from a surviving occurrence.
05EDITORIAL REUSE
WORD DOSSIERS USING THIS NODE