lown

See also: Lown

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English lune, borrowed from Old Norse logn (“windstillness”), from Proto-Norse *lugna, meaning "place where the water is smooth", ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“bright”), referring to shining water. Germanic cognates include Icelandic lón, Danish lyn (“lightning”), Swedish lugn (“calm water”).[1][2][3]

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /laʊn/
  • (Scottish) IPA(key): /lʌun/
  • Rhymes: -aʊn, -ʌun

Noun

lown (plural lowns)

  1. (Scotland) Calm, tranquillity. [from 13th c.]
  2. A shelter; a calm or peaceful place. [from 17th c.]
    • 1958, Michael Harrington, Sea Stories from Newfoundland:
      He had no alternative to the slim chance of safety offered by the ‘lun’ of Cat Harbour, Northern Island.

Adjective

lown (comparative lowner, superlative lownest)

  1. (chiefly Scotland) Peaceful, calm. [from 15th c.][4]
    • 1826 April, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine:
      Ye may hear him, on a lown day, at every farm-house in the parish.
Quotations
  • For quotations using this term, see Citations:lown.

References
  1. “lown”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, June 2021.
  2. de Vries, Jan (1977) Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Old Norse Etymological Dictionary] (in German), 2nd revised edition, Leiden: Brill, page 364
  3. Pokorny, Julius (1959) Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, pages 687-90
  4. “lown”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Etymology 2

See loon.

Noun

lown (plural lowns)

  1. (obsolete) A low fellow.
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