L.
|
Lab, n., rennet,’ from MidHG. lap(d), n., ‘rennet,’ also ‘acid fluid,’ OHG. lab, ‘broth’; it is not improbable, since the latter is the prim. meaning, that the word is further cognate with OTeut. terms for ‘medicine.’ Goth. lubja, f., ‘poison,’ AS. lyb, ‘poison,’ OIc. lyf, ‘medicine, OHG. luppi, n., ‘deadly juice.’ Note specially MidHG. kœseluppe, f., OHG. châsiluppa, AS. cŷs-lyb, equiv. to MidHG. kœ̂se-lap. The way in which Lab is related by gradation to lubja corresponds perhaps to that of HG. Nase to AS. nosu, E. nose. The prim. meaning of the stem seems to be ‘strong, sharp perfume; plant juice’; OIc. lyf, ‘medicine,’ and Goth. lubja, ‘poison,’ are differentiations of the same orig. sense. Labberdan, m., ‘codfish,’ ModHG. only, from LG.; to this are allied, with remarkable divergences, Du. labberdaan, earlier abberdaan and slabberdaan, and E. haberdine, with the same sense. The word is based not on the name of the Scotch town Aberdeen, but on tractus Laburdanus, a part of the Basque country (Bayonne used to be called Laburdum, Fr. Labourd), It must have been introduced into the Netherlands through a Fr. medium; the form abberdaen is due to the error of regarding the initial l as the article. Comp. also Kabliau. laben, vb., ‘to refresh,’ from MidHG. laben, OHG. labôn (comp. AS. gelafian), ‘to wash, quicken, refresh.’ If we take into consideration Tacitus' account of the fondness of the Teutons for bathing, we can readily conceive how the meaning ‘to refresh’ was evolved from ‘to wash’; the reverse course is also possible, as is shown perhaps by ModHG. sich erfrischen, sich stärken, in the sense of ‘to drink,’ The former is the more probable, on account of MidHG. lap (b), ‘bilge water’; there is, however, no connection with Lat. lavare, Gr. λούειν. — Labe, f., ‘refreshment,’ from the equiv. MidHG. labe, OHG. laba, f. Lache, f., from the equiv. MidHG. lache, OHG. lahha, f., ‘puddle, pool, water in an excavation.’ The OHG. word cannot be derived from Lat. lăcus, ‘lake,’ which may, however, be the origin of MidE. and E. lake, while AS. lagu, ‘lake,’ shows what form the Teut. word cognate with the Lat. term would assume. The |
attempt to connect Lache (Bav. lacke) and lacus is also opposed by the difference in meaning; Ital. lacca, ‘low ground,’ and OSlov. loky are G. loan-words. The origin of Lache remains obscure; it is scarcely allied to leck and its cognates.
lachen, vb., ‘to laugh,’ from the equiv. MidHG. lachen, OHG. lahhên, lahhan, earlier hlahhan; the hk of the HG. is due, according to Goth. hlahjan (pret. hlôh), ‘to laugh,’ to an older hj, AS. hlyhhan, E. to laugh, and the equiv. Du. lachen. In the non-Teut. languages the stem hlah, pre-Teut. klak (probably onomatopoetic, like the cognates of klingen or Lith. klegĕti, ‘to be noisy, laugh loudly’), is not positively authenticated. — Derivative Lache, f., ‘laugh,’ from MidHG. lache, f., ‘laughing,’ comp. E. laughter, AS. hleahtor, MidHG. lahter, ‘laughter.’ Lächeln, vb. ‘to smile,’ from MidHG. lęcheln, is a frequentative of lachen. Lachs, m., ‘salmon,’ from the equiv. MidHG. lahs (plur. lęhse), OHG. lahs; corresponding to AS. leax, OIc. lax, Scotch lax; a common and prim. Teut. term for ‘salmon’; in Goth. perhaps *lahs. The Slav. and Lith. words are cognate; Lith. lasziszà, Lett. lasis, Russ. lososŭ, ‘salmon trout,’ Pol. lasóš, ‘salmon.’ Hence the s in OHG. lahs is a suffix (comp. Fuchs), and not a part of the root. Lachter, n. and f., ‘fathom,’ from the equiv. MidHG. lâhter, lâfter (MidG.); its early history is obscure; the stem is not the same as in Klafter, Lade, f., ‘chest, box, press,’ from MidHG. lade (OHG. *lada, *hlada?), f., ‘receptacle, chest’; Lade is prop. an ‘arrangement for loading’; the corresponding OIc. hlaþa means ‘barn, storehouse,’ so too MidE. laþe, whence E. lathe. For further references comp. the vb. laden. It is also probable that Lade is connected with the following subst. Laden; in that case the prim. meaning would be ‘trunk made of boards.’ Laden, m., ‘shop, shutter,’ from MidHG. laden, lade, m., ‘board, plank, shutter, shop.’ The meaning of MidHG. lade, ‘board,’ is the orig. one, hence the derivation of the word from the vb. laden must be rejected in favour of its connection with ModHG. Latte; since the latter in Goth. |
