Etymology

Continuing late OE saclēas 'innocent', which is usually regarded as a loan-translation of the ON adj. represented by OIcel saklauss 'not guilty, innocent', made up of the (probably native, see SPS 100-1) OE sacu + lēas. SPS notes that while fully native derivation is possible, a couple of types of evidence point towards loan: the first citations of the word are associated with Anglo-Scandinavian areas, and OE sacful is only recorded with the meaning 'quarrelsome, contentious', not 'guilty, sinful' which would be expected for the antonym of saclēas.

PGmc Ancestor

*sakō + *lausa-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

saklauss 'not guilty, innocent'
(ONP saklauss (adj.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Norw saklaus, Dan sageløs, Sw saklös

OE Cognate

OE sacu 'contention, crime'

Phonological and morphological markers

Summary category

C3c

(C1c)

Attestation

The earliest OE attestations are in glosses to the Lindisfarne and Rushworth Gospels and then in the law code Æthelred III, contexts associated with Anglo-Scandinavian areas (SPS 101). Widespread later, though N sources dominate MED's citations and EDD's citations of the modern dial word are N and Sc.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Cl 716; WA 2390

TPD supply the instance at WA 2390 ('he wald neuire [sakles] suprise no sege vndir heuen'), which improves the sense and metre.

Bibliography

MED sā̆klē̆s(se (adj.) , OED3 , HTOED , EDD sackless (adj. and sb.), Bj. 12, SPS 101, de Vries saklauss