Load; Lode

Load; Lode. The O.E. lád, from which both these words are derived, meant “way,” “journey,” “conveyance,” and is cognate with Ger. Leite. The Teutonic root is also seen in the O. Teut. laidjan, Ger. leiten, from which comes “to lead.” The meanings of the word have been influenced by a supposed connexion with “lade,” O.E. hladan, a word common to many old branches of Teutonic languages in the sense of “to place,” but used in English principally of the placing of cargo in a ship, hence “bill of lading,” and of emptying liquor or fluid out of one vessel into another; it is from the word in this sense that is derived “ladle,” a large spoon or cup-like pan with a long handle. The two words, though etymologically one, have been differentiated in meaning, the influence of the connexion with “lade” being more marked in “load” than in “lode,” a vein of metal ore, in which the original meaning of “way” is clearly marked. A “load” was originally a “carriage,” and its Latin equivalent in the Promptorium Parvulorum is vectura. From that it passed to that which is laid on an animal or vehicle, and so, as an amount usually carried, the word was used of a specific quantity of anything, a unit of weight, varying with the locality and the commodity. A “load” of wheat = 40 bushels, of hay = 36 trusses. Other meanings of “load” are: in electricity, the power which an engine or dynamo has to furnish; and in engineering, the weight to be supported by a structure, the “permanent load” being the weight of the structure itself, the “external load” that of anything which may be placed upon it.