Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/239

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am,’ also ‘lying-in, childbirth, In Gr. epic poets aorist forms of a verb formed from a root legh, λεχ, have been preserved, λέκτο, λέξατο, &c., with the meaning ‘to lie down, encamp.’ The vb. is also wanting in Lat., where, however, lectus, ‘bed,’ a derivative of the root legh, is retained. OSlov. lęgą (lešti), ‘to lie down,’ lezą (ležati), ‘to lie.’ In East Aryan the root is unknown. Comp. legen, Lager, and löschen.

Lilie, f., ‘lily,’ from the equiv. MidHG. lilje, OHG. lilja, f.; borrowed in OHG. from Lat. lîlia, plur.; the brevity of the i of the accented syllable in the G. word and also in E. (AS. lilie, E. lily) is the same as in Linie and Litze, from Lat. lînea and lîcium. Comp. Rose.

lind, gelinde, adj., ‘gentle,’ from MidHG. linde, OHG. lindi, adj., ‘soft, gentle, tender, mild’ (Goth. *linþs is wanting); corresponding to OSax. lîthi, AS. lîþe, ‘mild, friendly, soft,’ E. lithe. In Scand. an exact correspondence is not found; the term used is linr, ‘friendly, mild, soft’ (whence Lapp. lines is borrowed), which with Bav. len, ‘soft,’ Du. lenig, ‘pliant,’ points to the fact that the dental of the G. and E. words is a suffix. Hence lin- is the root from which are formed in OTeut. Goth. af-linnan, ‘to go away, yield,’ OIc. linna, ‘to cease,’ AS. linnan, ‘to cease, part from, lose,’ OHG. bilinnan, ‘to relax, leave off.’ Therefore the Teut. root meant orig. ‘yielding disposition.’ Comp. OSlov. lěnŭ, ‘lazy,’ Lat. lên-i-s, ‘gentle, mild,’ and lentus, ‘flexible, pliant.’

Linde, f., ‘linden, lime-tree,’ from the equiv. MidHG. linde, OHG. linta, f.; corresponding to Du. linde, AS. lind, f. E. lind, linden, linden-tree (E. lime-tree = ‘linden’ is obscure); OIc. lind, f., ‘lime-tree’; a common Teut. term for ‘linden,’ also, as an OTeut. warlike term, ‘shield,’ lit. ‘linden shield,’ Its earlier history is obscure; ModHG. dial. Lind, ‘bast,’ and Scand. linde, ‘girdle,’ derivatives of Linde, give no clue to the prim. meaning of the word. If we consider the change in meaning to which names of trees have been subject (see under Buche, Eiche, and Tanne), we might assume that Linde is related to Gr. ἐλάτη (from lentâ), ‘pine tree, white pine’; it can scarcely be connected with Lat. lentus, ‘flexible’ (comp. lind), as if the inner bark of the linden were used at an early period for cords.

Lindwurm, m., ‘winged serpent or

dragon,’ borrowed, with the revival of MidHG. literature in the last century, from MidHG. lintwurm, OHG. lindwurm, m., ‘dragon’ (comp. also Wurm). The first component is identical in meaning with the second, which is only an explanation of the obscure term Lind, which was no longer understood; comp. OHG. lind, lint, ‘serpent’; OIc. linnr, ‘serpent’ (for *linþr). Windhund is a similar compound.

Linie, f., ‘line, lineage,’ from the equiv. MidHG. linie, f., from Lat. lînea, f., with a change of quantity. It occurs even in OHG.

link, adj., ‘left,’ from the equiv. MidHG. linc, adj., with the variant lęnc (gen. -kes); the form with sl is probably quite as old as that with initial l (comp. drosseln, Stier, Hocken, and lecken). In OHG. only lęncha, f., ‘left hand,’ is recorded; the adj. is rendered by winistar, MidHG. winster, in Bav. lërz, lërc, and tenk, Lower Rhen. slinc (this is doubtless a primitive variant of link, as is shown by the analogies under drosseln, Stier, Hocken, and lecken); in E. left (AS. *lyfte? Du. lucht). In the OTeut. dials. there are no other correspondences of link; perhaps ModHG. lenken is allied to this word with the prim. meaning ‘oblique, awry’; lenken signifies lit. ‘to direct obliquely.’ Schlimm may also be a cognate.

Linnen, n., a LG. form for Leinen, ‘linen,’ which was introduced in the last century into Upper Germany through the Westphalian linen trade. OSax. lînîn is still used as an adj., ‘flaxen, linen.’

Linse, f., ‘lentil, lens,’ from the equiv. MidHG. linse, OHG. linsi, f., with the MidHG. and OHG. variant linsîn. It is not certain whether the word comes from Lat. lens, f., because other borrowed terms are based not on the nomin. of the Lat. word (comp. Kreuz, Kelch, yet also Pabst), but on the stem appearing in the oblique cases; hence Lat. lent- (as is shown by AS. lens) ought to have appeared as *linz- in HG. An analogous case of an apparent permutation of nt to ns is furnished by E. flint, equiv. to OHG. flins, MidHG. vlins (see Flinte); these difficulties are not yet solved. Erbse, however, testifies that we are not compelled to assume that Linse was borrowed from Lat. Comp. also OSlov. lęšta (from *lentja), Lith. lènszis, ‘lentil.’

Lippe, f., ‘lip,’ unknown to MidHG. and OHG.; it has appeared in the written language since Luther. It is the LG. and