1963: linchpin, not linch Apr 30, 2020

There is a no word 'linch' despite the existence of the compound 'linchpin'. Indeed, the fact that it is around in the way it is comes from that there is no 'linch'. In Old English, the origin 'lynis' meant 'axle', hence a linchpin holds the wheel to the axle, but it could also mean the whole axletree. It is not to say that 'linchpin' is therefore not etymologically redundant, but with the introduction of 'axle' from Old Norse 'ǫxultré' it only survived from the compound.

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