law: [10] Etymologically, a law is that which has been ‘laid’ down. English borrowed the word from Old Norse *lagu (replacing the native Old English ǣ ‘law’), which was the plural of lag ‘laying, good order’. This came ultimately from the prehistoric Germanic base *lag- ‘put’, from which English gets lay. It has no etymological connection with the semantically similar legal. => lay
law (n.)
Old English lagu (plural laga, comb. form lah-) "law, ordinance, rule, regulation; district governed by the same laws," from Old Norse *lagu "law," collective plural of lag "layer, measure, stroke," literally "something laid down or fixed," from Proto-Germanic *lagan "put, lay" (see lay (v.)).
Replaced Old English æ and gesetnes, which had the same sense development as law. Compare also statute, from Latin statuere; German Gesetz "law," from Old High German gisatzida; Lithuanian istatymas, from istatyti "set up, establish." In physics, from 1660s. Law and order have been coupled since 1796.
双语例句
1. The letter merely restated the law of the land.
这封信只不过重复了一下土地法。
来自柯林斯例句
2. Mrs Allen's style of cooking owes much to her mother-in-law.
艾伦太太的烹饪风格很大程度上承传于她的婆婆。
来自柯林斯例句
3. Eisenhower used his muscle to persuade Congress to change the law.
艾森豪威尔用他的影响力说服国会修改了该项法律。
来自柯林斯例句
4. Traditionally young Asians in Britain have gravitated towards medicine, law and engineering.
英国的亚裔年轻人通常被吸引到医学、法律及工程专业。
来自柯林斯例句
5. Namibian law permits ranchers to shoot cheetahs to protect their livestock.
