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On the etymology of "folk", saying that it the word comes from Old English folc is true, although a vast over-simplification. A lot of languages share this word
by sgt 4y ago
On the etymology of "folk", saying that it the word comes from Old English folc is true, although a vast over-simplification. A lot of languages share this word.
This is actually an ancient word, you can trace it back to proto-Germanic "fulka", and further to Proto-Indo-European "plh-gos" (presumably pronounced something like phulgos or pholgos, close enough to folk).
- talideon 4y agoIf you want its direct ancestor, then it's perfectly true. The etymology further back than that would be irrelevant, and also unattested.
- thegabriele 4y ago...and then from phulgos to the latin "vulgus"?
- bombcar 4y agoWhere "vulgate" and "vulgar" come from, the common.
- avgcorrection 4y agoFolksy: people doing good or neutral stuff Vulgar, populist: people doing naughty or debased stuff
- Mappleton 4y agoOA here. Thanks for the expanded etymology. I was using https://www.etymonline.com/word/folk https://www.etymonline.com/word/folk as my source which goes into more historical detail. But didn't want to get too carried away in the opener on etymology.