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Origin and history of alack

alack(interj.)

expression of sorrow or dismay, mid-15c. contraction of ah, lack, which according to Skeat is from lack (n.) in its secondary Middle English sense of "loss, failure, fault, reproach, shame." According to OED, originally an expression of dissatisfaction, later of regret or unpleasant surprise. Sometimes extended as alackaday ("alack the day").

also from mid-15c.

Entries linking to alack

lack(n.)

c. 1300, "absence, want; shortage, deficiency," not found in Old English, of uncertain origin. Perhaps it is from an unrecorded Old English *lac, or else borrowed from Middle Dutch lak "deficiency, fault;" in either case probably from Proto-Germanic *lek- (source also of Old Frisian lek "disadvantage, damage," Old Norse lakr "lacking" (in quality), "deficient" (in weight)), from PIE *leg- (2) "to dribble, trickle" (see leak (v.)). Middle English also had lackless "without blame or fault."

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    "a part or portion," Middle English del, from from Old English dæl "a part of a whole, a share;" with qualification (great, etc.), "an extent, degree, quantity, amount," from Proto-Germanic *dailaz (source also of Old Norse deild, Old Frisian del "part; juridical district," Dutch
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