lyk

adv., conj. (in phrase)

Cl like

'like' (Modern English like)

Etymology

Formed on lyke (adj.), or from OE gelice (adv.), and cp. OIcel líka ‘also’.

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

Attestation

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'.

Bibliography

MED like (adv.) , OED like (adj., adv., prep. and conj. andn.2) , HTOED , Dance lyk, Bj. 147n.2