2234: clock and cloak Jan 26, 2021

The words 'cloak' and 'clock' are related, but as little as as those two have to do with each other on the surface, they also might not seem to do much with the common root. They both come from the Medieval Latin 'clocca' which actually meant 'bell', though this is thought to be originally Celtic. That word itself it thought to be onomatopoeic, and related to other words meaning 'laugh'. The cloak was called such not for the function or sound of course, but for having a generally bell-like shape. More on clocks in the next post. ב״ה