The
suffix -lock in
Modern English survives only in . It descends from
Old English -lác which was more productive, carrying a meaning of "action or proceeding, state of being, practice,
ritual". As a noun, Old English
lác means "play, sport", deriving from an earlier meaning of "sacrificial ritual or hymn" (Proto-Germanic
*laikaz). A putative term for a "hymn to the gods" (
*ansu-laikaz) in early
Germanic paganism is attested only as a personal name,
Oslac.