Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/226

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alarme (from Ital. allarme) by dropping the unaccented initial vowel; prop. a military term identical with Alarm.

Larve, f., ‘spectre mask, larva, grub,’ ModHG. only, from Lat. larva, with the v pronounced as f, as in HG. Brief, Käfig, and Vers.

lasch, adj., ‘slack,’ from MidHG. and OHG. *lasc; comp. OIc. lǫskr (Goth. *lasqs-), adj., ‘slack, weary’; formed with a suffix sk from the root laß, lassen (Goth. *lasqa- would represent *latsqa-). Yet it is not improbable, since lasch is first recorded in ModHG., that the root was borrowed from a Rom. class similar in sound (comp. Fr. lâche, Ital. lasco,‘idle’).

Lasche, f., ‘flap, lappet,’ from MidHG. lasche, f., ‘shred, rag’; it is conceivable that the word is related to Lappe, whose labial may have been lost before sch; hence OHG. *laska for *lafska?.

Lase, f., ‘pitcher, can,’ a MidHG. word, not recorded in OHG. and MidHG.; probably connected with lassen.

lassen, vb., ‘to let, leave,’ from the equiv. MidHG. lâȥen, OHG. lâȥȥan, str. vb.; comp. AS. lœ̂tan, E. to let, Du. laten, OIc. láta, Goth. lêtan; the pre-Teut. form of the common Teut. root lêt, ‘to leave,’ is lêd (with lad as a weaker gradation, comp. laß). The only certain cognate in the other Aryan languages is the Lat. word lassus, ‘faint, languid,’ quoted under laß; hence ‘to relax, release,’ is probably the prim. meaning of the verbal stem. From this, MidHG. lâȥen, both simply and in compounds, evolved the meanings ‘to set free, omit, leave behind,’ &c., as in ModHG.

Last, f. (UpG. masc.), from the equiv. MidHG. and MidLG. last, f. and m., ‘burden,’ OHG. last (earlier hlast); allied to laden Goth. hlaþan); the st is a suffix before which the final dental of the verbal stem hlaþ necessarily disappeared, AS. hlœst, n. E. last. In Scand. an old to- partic. assumed the meaning ‘waggon-load,’ hlass, n. (for *hlaþto-). The G. word passed into Rom. (Fr. lest, m., ‘ballast,’ laste, m., Ital. lasto, ‘load of shipping’). For further references comp. laden.

Laster, n., ‘vice, crime,’ from MidHG. and MidLG. laster, n., ‘abuse, disgrace, mistake,’ OHG. lastar, n. It is connected with a str. vb. lahan (for the loss of h before s comp. Mist) preserved in OHG., equiv. to AS. leán, ‘to blame.’ Pre-Teut. lahstra- is formed from the verbal stem

lah with the suffix stra-, which represents the earlier form tra seen in AS. leahtor, n., ‘reproach, sin’ (obsolete in E.). Another derivative from the same stem is seen in Scand. lǫstr (Goth. *lahstus), MidE. last, ‘mistake, defect.’ In the non-Teut. languages the word may be compared with OIr. locht (from lokto-), ‘mistake.’

laß, adj., ‘inactive, idle,’ from MidHG. laȥ (ȥȥ), ‘faint, idle, tardy’ (see letzen); it corresponds to Goth. lats, OIc. latr, AS. lœt, MidLG. lat, adj., ‘sluggish, idle, lazy.’ A pre-Teut. adj. formed by gradation from the stem of lassen, lêt, of which lăt- is the weak form (see schlaff, OHG. slăf, from the root slêp). The close correspondence with Lat. lassus may be accounted for historically; lassus is an old partic. for *ladtus; lad is the pre-Teut. root on which ModHG. laß is based; comp. lasch, lassen, and letzt. The assumption, however, that HG. laß was borrowed from the Rom. cognates (Ital. lasso, Fr. las, Lat. lassus) is inconceivable.

lateinisch, adj., ‘Latin,’ with the foreign accent, in contrast to the E. term. The diphthong of the second syllable proves that the adj. was naturalized previous to ModHG. MidHG. latînisch, OHG. latînisc, which was adopted in the OHG. period, as is proved by the non-permutation of t (latînus) to HG. ȥȥ, was used chiefly in the monastic schools, in which Latin was cultivated as the language of the Church.

Laterne, f., ‘lantern,’ from the equiv. MidHG. latërne (lantërne), f.; borrowed with the retention of the foreign accent from Lat. laterna (Fr. lanterne, E. lantern).

Latte, f., ‘lath,’ from the equiv. MidHG. late, latte, OHG. latta, f.; it corresponds to Du. lat, AS. lœtta (lœþþa?), MidE. laþþe, E. lath; a difficult word both grammatically and etymologically. The correspondence of tt in AS. lœtta and OHG. latta is abnormal (AS. tt ought to be HG. tz, only AS. þþ corresponds to a HG. tt). Unfortunately a corresponding word is wanting both in Scand. and Goth. Yet there is no need to regard the cognates as foreign; since ModHG. Laden is cognate, the Teut. origin of the word is established. Hence from HG. Latte an allied Rom. class has been rightly derived — Fr. latte, Ital. latta, ‘flat wooden pole.’ To the Teut. cognates Ir. slath (Bret. laz), ‘rod, pole,’ from the base slattâ, is primit. akin.

Lattich, m., ‘lettuce,’ from the equiv.