An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Locke
Locke, feminine, ‘lock, curl, tress,’ from the equivalent Middle High German loc (plural locke), Old High German loc (plural locchâ), masculine; compare Anglo-Saxon locc, English lock, Old Icelandic lokkr, Dutch lok, ‘lock’ A common Teutonic word for ‘lock’ (Gothic *lukks is by chance not recorded), and peculiar to the Teutons, who from the earliest times laid special stress on the mode of wearing the hair; the freeman was distinguished by his long streaming locks, while the bondman wore his hair short. The Southerners (see fahl) were specially struck with the golden curly hair of the Teutons when they first came into contact with them. It is true that curls were considered effeminate by the earlier Northmen, though in Germany they were fondly cherished. Compare also Haar, Schopf, Hede, and other words for ‘hair’ peculiar to Teutonic. The primitively history of the word is obscure; Locke (as ‘that which is bent’) is most provably connected with an Aryan root, lug, ‘to draw, bend, curve’; compare Greek λυγ- in λυγόω, λυγίζω, ‘I bend, tie,’ also λύγος, ‘young, pliant twig’ (Lithuanian palugnas, adjective, ‘pleasing’?). In Teutonic the following are also probably allied to these — Gothic lûkan, ‘to draw’ (uslûkan, ‘to unsheathe a sword’), North. English to look, ‘to weed,’ Bavarian liechen, ‘to pluck’ (e.g. the flax out of the ground).