leu-

To loosen, divide, cut apart.

Derivatives include forlorn, analysis, and solve.

I. Extended Germanic root *leus-.

1.

a. lorn, losel, from Old English -lēosan, to lose;

b.

(i) forlorn, from Old English forlēosan, to forfeit, lose;

(ii) forlorn hope, from Dutch verliezen (past participle verloren), to lose. Both (i) and (ii) from Germanic *fer-leusan, *far-leusan (*fer-, *far-, prefix denoting rejection or exclusion; see per¹). Both a and b from Germanic *leusan, with Old English and Dutch past participle loren from Germanic *luzana-, from Indo-European suffixed zero-grade form *lus-ono-.

2.

a. leasing, -less, from Old English lēas, “loose,” free from, without, untrue, lacking;

b. lose, loss, from Old English los, loss;

c. loose, from Old Norse lauss, louss, loose;

d. loess, from German dialectal lösch, loose. a-d all from Germanic *lausaz.

3. leister, from Old Norse ljōsta, to strike, perhaps from Germanic *leustan.

II. Basic form *leu-.

1. lag², probably from a source akin to Swedish lagg, barrel stave (< “split piece of wood”), from Germanic *lawwō.

2. Zero-grade form *lu-.

a. lyo-, lysis, lyso-, -lyte, lytic, -lytic; analysis, catalysis, dialysis, lyase, palsy, paralysis, tachylyte, from Greek lūein, to loosen, release, untie;

b. lues, from Latin luēs, plague, pestilence (< “dissolution, putrefaction”);

c. prefixed form *se-lu- (se-, apart; see s(w)e-). soluble, solute, solve; absolute, absolve, assoil, dissolve, resolute, resolve, from Latin solvere, to loosen, untie.

 

[Pokorny 2. leu- 681.]

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