Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/233

Lei  and poetry coined many similar circumlocutions for ‘body.’ In  poetry  flœ̂sc-homa, ‘flesh-covering,’ also bân-fœt,  ‘bone-vessel,’ bânhûs,  ‘bone-house,’ bânloca,  ‘bone-cage,’ bâncofa,  ‘bone-dwelling,’ as synonyms of  lîc-homa, ‘body.’ Hence it is quite possible that  lîk-hamo was adopted from poetry in ordinary prose.  ,, ‘light’ from the  lîht, lîhte,  lîhti; corresponding to  ligt,  lîht, leóht,  light,  léttr,  leihts, ‘light.’ The further cognates of the word are uncertain, since there are too many  in the allied languages closely resembling  both in sense and sound. Some etymologists derive lĕvis, ‘light,’ from lêvis, lenhvis, in order to connect it with the common   as well as with  ἐλαχύς, ‘petty, small,’  lengwùs, lèngwas, ‘light’; in that case lîht would represent linht, lenht. If be connected with , it might be compared with  ᾿ἐλαφρὸς, ‘light, nimble’ (see ). No explanation has been hitherto quite satisfactory, since in the non- languages there is no corresponding in form to. — In lights (see ) is also connected with the  light.  ,, ‘harm, hurt, sorrow,’ from leit (d), , ‘affliction, pain, evil’ (as  ‘afflicting’),  leid, , ‘that which causes affliction; harm, pain’ (leid, , ‘afflicting, repugnant, hateful’). lâþ, ‘offence, wrong, hostile, hateful, inimical’; loath,, to loathe,  leiþr, ‘hostile, hateful.’ Probably the   is  nothing more than the  of the , which passed into  at a very early period (  laido, ‘ugly,’  laid). See further under and.  ,, ‘to suffer, endure, bear,’ from the  lîden,  lîdan,. It is ordinarily identified with an   lîþan, ‘to go’ ;   lîdan, ‘to go, proceed,’  lîþan,  leiþan, ‘to go.’ It is assumed that lîþan, from the meaning ‘travelling to a foreign land (alilandi, whence  ) and across the sea’ (lîþan is frequently used of a voyage), has acquired the sense of ‘indisposition, enduring, and suffering.’ This explanation is too artificial, and when it is urged in its favour that the latter meaning does not occur in,  , and , the fact is overlooked that it is assumed as  by the common   laiþa-, ‘painful, repugnant, hostile,’ which is wanting only in. It might be conceivable if a compound of liþan, ‘to go,’ formed by prefixing a verbal particle, had assumed within the historic period the meaning ‘to suffer,’ but that the simple verb evolved such a sense immediately from ‘to go’ in  times is scarcely credible. The proof of this lies in the fact that the derivative laiþa-, from the stem of lîþan, is more widely diffused, and is recorded at an earlier period. Thus we are led to the meaning ‘to put up with what is repugnant,’ and the early existence of the  and  discussed under  causes no surprise. For the further history of the word the interject. lêwes, lês, ‘oh! alas!’ appears to be valuable; in form it is the of a noun, and presumes  laiwis, from a stem lai-wa-. Since it is used in a way similar to, they are probably cognate. Thus the root would be lai, by gradation lî; the dental of lîdan,, was probably therefore a part of the present stem originally. See the following word. ,, ‘alas!’ from the  leider,  leidôr;  a comparat. of the  mentioned under. With regard to the possibility of its being allied to lêwes, lês, ‘alas!’.  ,, ‘lyre,’ from the  lîre,  lîra, ; from  and  lyra, with the Byzantine pronunciation of the y current in the Middle Ages, but with an abnormal change of quantity (as in , , and ). The lyre of the Middle Ages, except when imported, was essentially different from the antique lyre; it was an instrument of the same sort as a guitar, and was played by a wheel turned by a winch; hence it was something very like a barrel-organ (hurdy-gurdy). Through the influence of classical studies, the term is now applied again to the antique instrument without entirely supplanting the earlier meaning. also lira,  lyre,  lyre, and  lier.  ,, ‘to lend, borrow,’ from lîhen,  lîhan,  , ‘to take on credit,’ rarely ‘to give on credit’; so too  leihwan,  león (contracted from