PIE *leghの「置く」が語源で、語源的にはlie、layと同じ。 基準、標準、法令、法律などを置くことに由来する。doom, statuteと比較される。
英語の語源
law
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 ? ‘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 ? 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.
例文
1. The letter merely restated the law of the land.
この手紙は土地法を繰り返したにすぎない。
2.Mrs Allen 's style of cooking owes much to her mother-in- law .
アレン夫人の料理スタイルは、姑に大きく受け継がれている。
3.Eisenhower used his muscle to persuade Congress to change the law .
アイゼンハワーは彼の影響力で国会を説得してこの法律を改正した。
4.Traditionally young Asians in Britain have gravitated towards medicine， law and engineering.
イギリスのアジア系の若者は、一般的に医学、法律、エンジニアリングの専門家に惹かれています。
5.Namibian law permits ranchers to shoot cheetahs to protect their livestock.