Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/231

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Leg
( 209 )
Leh

from Gr. λάγηνος, λάγῦνος ἡ, ‘flagon’); with respect to l for Lat. n in words borrowed from Lat. comp. Kümmel (also Himmel, schlennig). Moreover, the primit. kinship of the HG. cognates with OSlov. lakŭtĭ, Lith. lakas, ‘earthen pitcher,’ is perhaps conceivable.

legen, vb., ‘to lay, put,’ from the equiv. MidHG. and OHG. lęgen, lęcken, wk. vb.; prop. ‘to cause to lie,’ hence a factitive of liegen. It corresponds to OSax. lęggian, Du. leggen, AS. lęčgan, E. to lay, OIc. legja, Goth. lagjan, wk. vb., ‘to lay.’ Comp. liegen.

Legende, f., ‘legend,’ from MidHG. legende, f., ‘story of a saint’; from MidLat. legenda, neu. plur. (sic dicta, quia certis diebus legenda in ecclesia et in sacris synaxibus designabatur a moderatore chori).

Lehde, Lede, f., ‘waste land,’ simply ModHG., from earlier Du. leeghde, ModDu. laagte, ‘low ground, valley,’ through a LG. medium. Allied to the ModDu. adj. laag, ‘low,’ to which E. low and the equiv. OIc. lágr correspond; in miners' language the adj. appears also in G.; läg, ‘sloping, awry,’ from MidHG. lœ̂ge, ‘flat, low.’ The whole class belongs to the stem of liegen.

Lehen, n., ‘fief,’ from MidHG. lêhen, n., ‘feudal estate, fief,’ OHG. lêhan, n.; corresponding to OIc. lán, n., ‘loan, fief (whence E. loan), AS. lœ̂n; in Goth. probably *laihwnis, n., to which Sans. reknas, n., ‘estate, wealth,’ prop. ‘inheritance,’ corresponds in construction and derivation. For further cognates comp. leihen.

Lehm, m., ‘loam, clay,’ with a LG. and MidG. form (ê for HG. ei); the strictly HG. form Leimen has a restricted sphere. Comp. MidHG. leim, leime, m., ‘loam,’ from OHG. leimo, m. It corresponds to AS. lâm, E. loam (Goth. *laima). The root lai appears with a derivative s in OIc. leir, n., from *laiz, which may have been contracted from laj-is, like Goth. ais, ‘brass,’ from ájis, Sans. áyas. Allied to Lat. lîmus, m., ‘slime, dirt.’ The form of the gradation between Teut. laima and Lat. lîmus is ai to î. Comp. Leim.

Lehne (1.), f., ‘back or arm (of a chair), balustrade, railing,’ from the equiv. MidHG. lëne, line, f., OHG. lina, f., ‘reclinatorium’ for *hlina, which was probably the form in Goth. also. Comp. Gr. κλῖνη, ‘couch, mattress’ (these meanings also belong to Lehne in earlier ModHG.), and for further cognates see lehnen and Leiter.

Lehne (2.), f., from the equiv. MidHG. liene, with the remarkable variant liehe, f., ‘wild sow’; its further connection are difficult to determine; the similarity in sound with the equiv. Fr. laie and MidLat. lêfa (for lêha?) must not be overlooked. It is doubtful whether Lehne is of Teut. origin.

Lehne (3.), f., ‘linch-pin’; comp. Lünse.

Lehne (4.), Lenne, f., ‘Norwegian maple’; MidHG. and OHG. lîn-, lîmboum, hence also earlier ModHG. Leinbaum; the ModHG. form is borrowed from a Northern dial.; Dan. lön, Swed. lönn. Moreover the term was orig. common to Teut.; it was applied to the ‘maple’ in all the older dials. except Goth.; OIc. hlynr, AS. hlyn (hlynn or hlîn?), and with these in the non Teut. languages Slav. klenŭ, and Lith. klévas, ‘maple,’ are primit. allied.

lehnen (1.), vb., ‘to lean, recline’; it combines MidHG. lënen, linen, intr., ‘to rest (on),’ and (through the medium of MidG.) MidHG. leinen, trans., ‘to lean,’ OHG. linên, earlier hlinên, intr., and leinen, hleinen, trans.; corresponds to AS. hlinian, hleonian, intr., and hlœ̂nan, trans., ‘to lean.’ The real stem is hli, the n is a verbal suffix (in Lehne, however, corresponding to Gr. κλί-νη, a nominal suffix). The graded form of hlī̆, hlai, has been preserved in Leiter; it also existed in an OTeut. *hlaiwaz, *hlaiwiz, n., ‘hill’ (Goth. hlaiw, AS. hlœ̂w, OHG. lêo for hlêo), as well as in Goth. hlains, m., ‘hill,’ OIc. hlein, f., ‘projecting rock.’ The root hlī̆, unpermutated klī̆, appears in the non-Teut. languages with numerous cognates; Gr. κλἷ-νω, ‘to lean,’ κλἷ-μαξ f., ‘ladder, stairs’ (comp. Leiter), κλῖ-νη, ‘couch,’ κλι-σία, ‘conch, easy-chair, tent’ (comp. Goth. hlei-þra, f., ‘tent’), κλι-τύς, ‘hill,’ κλῖ-τος, κλίτος, n., ‘hill’ (comp. ModHG. Leite, f., OIc. hlíþ, f., AS. hlĭþ, n., ‘hill’); Lat. clinare, ‘to incline,’ clivus, m., ‘hill,’ with which are allied Lith. szlýti, ‘to incline to one side,’ szlëti, ‘to lean against,’ szlaítas, ‘slope.’ Hence, according to these allied meanings, the idea is ‘to rise gradually, assume a wry form or a slanting position.’

lehnen (2.), vb., ‘to lend,’ from MidHG. lêhenen, OHG. lêhanôn, ‘to bestow as a fief, lend’; comp. Lehen, and further also leihen; allied to AS. lœ̂nan (pret. lœ̂nde), E. to lend.

lehren, vb., ‘to teach,’ from MidHG. and OHG. lêren, ‘to instruct, teach, make one acquainted with,’ sometimes also ‘to