Etymology Dictionary

LACKEY, LACQUEY,  a footman, menial attendant.  (F.,—Span.?—Arab.?)   In Shak. As You Like It, iii. 2. 314; Tam. Shrew, iii. 2. 66.—O. F. laquay, 'a lackey, footboy, footman;' Cot.   Mod. F. laquais.   There was also an O. F. form alacay; see Littré, who shews that, in the 15th cent., a certain class of soldiers (esp. crossbow-men) were called alagues, alacays or lacays.   The prefix -a is for al, and due to the Arab. def. article.—Span. lacayo, a lackey; cf. Port. lacaio, a lackey, lacaia, a woman-servant in dramatic performances.   β. The use of a- (for al ) in O. F. alacays points to an Arab. origin.—Arab. luka‛, worthless, slavish, and, as a sb., a slave.   The fem. form lak‛á, mean, servile (applied to a woman) accounts for the Port. lacaia.   Allied words are lakú‛, lakí‛, abject, servile, laká‛i, slovenly.   See Richardson, Pers. Dict. pp. 1272, 1273.   γ. However, this is but a guess; the etymology is quite uncertain; Diez connects it with Ital. leccare, G. lecken, to lick; see Lick.   Der. lackey, verb, Ant. and Cleop. i. 4. 46.