adv., conj. (in phrase)
Cl like
'like' (Modern English like)
PGmc Ancestor
*(ga)līka-
Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)
líkr ‘like, alike’; cp. líka (adv.) 'also'
(ONP glíkr (adj.); cp. líka (1) (adv.))
Other Scandinavian Reflexes
Far líkur, Icel líkur, Norw lik, Dan lig, Sw lik
OE Cognate
gelīc (adj.) ‘like, alike’; gelīce 'similarly'
Phonological and morphological markers
[absence of palatalization of */k/] (possibly diagnostic)
Summary category
CCC2c
MED cites a large number of unambiguous /k/ forms; these are most predictable in N and E texts, but they occur widely and are the norm in Chaucer.
Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus
Gaw 1281, Cl 1008
PS emend the line in Gaw to read instead ‘let as ho liked him’ (see 1281n). Most others read 'lyk a' (thus e.g. GDS) or emend to 'lyk a[s]' (so TG(D)). Anderson interprets <like> at Cl 1008 as a conj. 'as though'.