English
lance
Lance comes from Old French lance ‘lance (weapon)’, from Latin lancea ‘The Roman auxiliaries' short javelin’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂k- ‘to hit’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleh₂k-1‘to hit’uncertain
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElancea2‘The Roman auxiliaries' short javelin’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400lance2‘lance (weapon)’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500launce2‘a lance (long spear)’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1591–1592lance2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin lancea
- 2 Wiktionary, English lance
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1591–1592, William Shakespeare, The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]: “Thy brother’s blood the thirsty earth hath drunk, Broach’d…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleh₂k-Wiktionary, Latin lancea‘to hit’uncertain
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElanceaWiktionary, English lance‘The Roman auxiliaries' short javelin’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400lanceWiktionary, English lance‘lance (weapon)’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500launceWiktionary, English lance‘a lance (long spear)’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1591–1592lanceWiktionary, English lance. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1591–1592, William Shakespeare, The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]: “Thy brother’s blood the thirsty earth hath drunk, Broach’d…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂k- ‘to hit’
plant, peel, plague, fling, plaintive, 11 more
through Latin lancea ‘The Roman auxiliaries' short javelin’
Today it means
noun A weapon of war, consisting of a long shaft or handle and a steel blade or head; a spear carried by horsemen.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “lance”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin lancea. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂k- / lance