The term cloak was introduced into the English language in the early thirteenth century, originally spelled as cloke. Throughout the Middle English period, it also appeared as clooke, clocke, cloik, clok, cloak, and cloake before being standardized as cloak in the 1700s. Its origins can be traced back to the Old North French word cloque, which meant “cloak”, derived from Medieval Latin clocca, meaning “bell”. This association stemmed from the bell-like shapes of cloaks during that time, making it a distant relative of the word clock. While the exact etymology remains uncertain, some theories suggest a possible Celtic origin spread by Irish missionaries, potentially rooted in onomatopoeic origins. The expression cloak and dagger was borrowed from French in 1848, and the verb to cloak emerged from the noun in the early sixteenth century.
