soken

See also: sōken

English

Etymology

From Middle English sookne, socne (“district held by a socage”), from Old English sōcn (“jurisdiction, prosecution, soke”, literally “act of seeking”), from Proto-West Germanic *sōkni, from Proto-Germanic *sōkniz (“seeking, inquiry”), from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“to follow, track”).

Akin to Gothic 𐍃𐍉𐌺𐌽𐍃 (sōkns, “controversy”), Old English sacu (“legal case, dispute”), sēcan (“to seek”), Swedish socken (“parish”), Danish sogn (“parish”), Norwegian sokn (“parish”). More at sake, seek, soke. See also Medieval Latin sōca (“right of jurisdiction”), English soke.

Noun

soken (countable and uncountable, plural sokens)

1. (historical) The ancient right (usually conferred by royalty) to hold a local court of justice and levy specific fees and fines.
   1. The 'resort' (right) of specific farmers to have their grain ground at a specific mill or, inversely, the right of a mill to that custom.
   2. A right of prosecution and judgement.
2. (historical) The area over which this right was established.

   Synonym: soke

3. (obsolete) A place that is regularly frequented.

Derived terms

• Thorpe-le-Soken

Related terms

• soke
• sokeland

References

• Webster's Dictionary
• Oxford English Dictionary
• Stow's Survey of London

Anagrams

• Kones, Nosek, Senko, Snoke, snoek

Middle English

Noun

soken

1. Alternative form of souken

Tok Pisin

Etymology

From English stocking.

Noun

soken

1. stocking