Dock
late Middle English: from Middle Dutch, Middle Low German docke, of unknown origin.
wiktionary
From Middle English dokke, from Old English docce, from Proto-Germanic *dukk- (compare Old Danish dokke(“water-dock”), West Flemish dokke, dokkebladeren(“coltsfoot, butterbur”)), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰew-(“dark”) (compare Latvian duga(“scum, slime on water”)). [1] [2]
From Middle English dok(“trimmed hair, dock”), from Old English *docce, *docca (as in fingirdoccana(“finger muscles”, genitive plural)), from Proto-West Germanic *dokkā, from Proto-Germanic *dukkǭ (compare West Frisian dok(“bunch, ball (twine)”), Low German Dokke(“bundle of straw”), Icelandic dokkur(“stumpy tail”)), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeu-k-(“to spin, shake”) (compare Lithuanian dvė̃kti(“to breathe, wheeze”), dvãkas(“breath”), Albanian dak(“big ram”), Sanskrit धुक्षति(dhukṣati, “to blow”)). [1]
From Middle English dokken(“to cut short, dock, curtail”), from the noun (see above).
From early modern English "area of mud in which a ship can rest at low tide, dock", borrowed from Dutch dok(“dock”) or Middle Low German docke(“dock, ship's dock”), both from Middle Dutch docke(“port, harbour, roadstead”), of uncertain origin. The original sense may have been "the furrow a grounded vessel makes in a mud bank" [1]. Compare modern Dutch dok, modern German Low German Dock, West Frisian dok, German Dock, Danish dok, Swedish docka.
Some sources link this word to an unattested Middle Dutch *docke(“watercourse, trench, canal”), which is a ghost word, only being inferred from Mediaeval Latin documents in the form of ducta, doctus, doccia(“conduit, canal”). However, if this theory is correct, then it would relate the word to Italian doccia(“drainpipe”), making dock a doublet of douche and duct. [2]
An alternative theory ties Middle Dutch docke to a Scandinavian source, notably Old Norse dǫkk(“depression in the landscape, pit, pool, trench”), related to Norwegian dokk(“hollow, low ground”), Old Icelandic dökk, dökð(“pit, pool”), Swedish dank(“marshy ground”). If so, this would make dock a doublet of dank.
Originally criminal slang; from or akin to Dutch (Flemish) dok(“cage, hutch”).
dock (third-person singular simple present docks, present participle docking, simple past and past participle docked)
etymonline
dock (n.1)
"ship's berth, any structure in or upon which a ship may be held for loading, repairing, etc.," late 15c., dokke, from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German docke, which is perhaps ultimately (via Late Latin *ductia "aqueduct") from Latin ducere "to lead" (from PIE root *deuk- "to lead"); or possibly from a Scandinavian word for "low ground" (compare Norwegian dokk "hollow, low ground"). The original sense was perhaps "furrow a grounded vessel makes in a mud bank."
dock (n.2)
"where accused stands in court," 1580s, probably originally rogue's slang, from Flemish dok "pen or cage for animals," which is of unknown origin.
dock (v.1)
"cut off or clip an animal's tail," late 14c., from dok (n.) "fleshy part of an animal's tail" (mid-14c.), which is from Old English -docca "muscle" or an Old Norse equivalent, from Proto-Germanic *dokko "something round, bundle" (source also of Old Norse dokka "bundle; girl," Danish dukke "a bundle, bunch, ball of twine, straw, etc.," also "doll," German Docke "small column, bundle; doll, smart girl").
The general meaning "deduct a part from," especially "to reduce (someone's) pay for some infraction" is recorded by 1815. Related: Docked; docking.
dock (n.3)
name for various tall, coarse weeds or herbs, Old English docce, from Proto-Germanic *dokkon (source also of Middle Dutch docke-, German Docken-, Old Danish dokka), akin to Middle High German tocke "bundle, tuft," and ultimately to the noun source of dock (v.1).
dock (v.2)
"to bring or place (a ship) into a dock," 1510s, from dock (n.1). Intransitive sense of "to come into a dock" is by 1892. Of spaceships, by 1951. Related: Docked; docking.
