Etymology

lane

L1A1N1E1

Today it means: A road, street, or similar thoroughfare. Full definition →

Middle English lane ← Old English lanu ← Proto-West Germanic *lanu
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lane · noun1

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*lanō“lane, passageway”
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*lanu
  3. Old English · inherited fromlanu“a lane, alley, avenue”
  4. Middle English · inherited fromlane
  5. English todaylane

From Middle English lane, lone, from Old English lanu (“a lane, alley, avenue”), from Proto-West Germanic *lanu, from Proto-Germanic *lanō (“lane, passageway”). Cognate with Scots lone (“cattle-track, by-road”), West Frisian leane, loane (“a walkway, avenue”), Dutch laan (“alley, avenue”), German Low German Lane, Laan (“lane”), Swedish lån (“covered walkway encircling a house”), Icelandic lön (“a row of houses”).

Lane · proper noun2

As an English surname, from lane; as an Irish surname, from several origins, including Laighin. See Lane.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.