soken

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 *seh₂g-.

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.

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.

• Thorpe-le-Soken

• soke
• sokeland

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

• Kones, Nosek, Senko, Snoke, snoek

soken

1. alternative form of souken

• soiken, soeken (variant spellings)

One of a number of Ripuarian relict forms with an unshifted postvocalic plosive.

sȫken (third-person singular present sȫket, past tense sochte, past participle gesocht)

1. (Central Franconian) alternative form of suochen (“to seek, search”)
   • 15th c., Die Chroniken der niederrheinischen Städte, volume “Cöln II”, Leipzig: Hirzel, published 1876, page 176:

     In dem selven jair zo sent Remeis missen, do hadde ein rait van Coelne verdragen [...], dat si alle zo den hilgen moisten sweren: so wat ein burger mit sime mitburger zo schaffen hedde, damit zo Coellen zo bliven bi onsen inwendichen gerichten, geine ander gerichte buissen Coellen zo soiken.

     Conventional spelling: In dem selven jār zō Sent Remēs missen, dō hadde ein rāt van Kölne verdragen [...], dat sī alle zō den hilligen mōsten sweren: sō wat ein bürger mit sīme mitbürger zō schaffen hedde, dāmit zō Köllen zō blīven bī unsen inwendigen gerichten, geine ander gerichte būzen Köllen zō sȫken.

     In that same year at St. Remigius mass, a council of Cologne had agreed [...] that they all must swear by the saints: that whatever a citizen might have to settle with his fellow citizen, they would keep the matter at our interior courts and not seek other courts outside Cologne.

From English stocking.

soken

1. stocking