soken

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*seh₂g-
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*sōkniz“seeking, inquiry”
3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*sōkni
4. Old English · inherited fromsōcn“jurisdiction, prosecution, soke”
5. Middle English · inherited fromsookne
6. English todaysoken

From Middle English sookne, socne (“district held by a socage”), from Old English sōcn (“jurisdiction, prosecution, soke”, literally “act of seeking”), from Proto-West Germanic *sōkni, from Proto-Germanic *sōkniz (“seeking, inquiry”), from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂g-. Akin to Gothic 𐍃𐍉𐌺𐌽𐍃 (sōkns, “controversy”), Old English sacu (“legal case, dispute”), sēcan (“to seek”), Swedish socken (“parish”), Danish sogn (“parish”), Norwegian sokn (“parish”). More at sake, seek, soke. See also Medieval Latin sōca (“right of jurisdiction”), English soke.

Words from the same roots