līla-

There is a general consensus that Luwian līla- c. ‘pacification’ and its denominative verbs are related to Hitt. lā-/l-⁽ⁱ⁾ (< *lóH-/lH-´) ‘to release’ and lā(i)-^(mi), i.e. PIE *leh₁- (HEg L-N:56, HED L:77f., LIV²:399, EDHIL:509, 523f.), although the identity of the laryngeal is not supported by the Hittite data, where *leh₂- or *leh₃- would make even better sense of the attested verbal forms, e.g. *léh₂i̯e/o- > lā(i)-^(mi) and *lóh₂-/lh₂-´ > lā-/l-^(ḫi), not **lāi-/-i(ya)-^(ḫi). The Luwian word family shows a reduplication with -i- in the first syllable, which implies the existence of the reduplicated verb *li-leH-/-lH-, from which an abstract noun in *-eh₂- c. was derived, i.e. *lí-lEH-eh₂- > līla- c. (pace EDHIL:524). As pointed out, in the lemma below, a preform *lí-lH- cannot be posited, since it would have yielded a geminated -ll-; it is either a late formation (as below) or it is based on the strong stem with analogical loss of the laryngeal. The meaning of the HLuw. word /liliya-/ is not certain and may or may not belong here. An etymological connection with Hitt. liliwant- ‘hasty, swift’ should not be dismissed so readily; cf. under lemma.

[D.S.]

The root *leh₁- is reconstructed in LIV²:399 s.v. *leh₁- as ‘to diminish, permit, let’ (“nachlassen, (zu)lassen”). Most of the meanings of its reflexes in the daughter languages can indeed be paraphrased using the German verb lassen and its derivatives, which itself goes back either to the extended root *leh₁d- (thus LIV²:400) or to a *-de/o-present of said root *leh₁-. Most examples of this rare present-stem type come from Germanic (e.g., Old Norse velta ‘to roll, tumble’ < *u̯elh_x-de/o-; cf. LIV²:19 and 677), so *leh₁-de/o- >  Proto-Germanic *lētana- (Gothic letan, Old English lǣtan, English let, Old Norse láta, etc.) could be another case.

The evidence for the alleged root *leh₁d- is certainly far from overwhelming. LIV²:400 lists Albanian lodh ‘to tire (someone)’, Old Albanian lodhet ‘to become tired’ (cf. Schumacher & Matzinger 2013a:981) as the only other verbal form, yet this verb can equally well be derived from *sleh₁g̑- ‘to abate’ (LIV²:565 “ans Ende kommen” with Ancient Greek λήγω ‘abate, cease, stop’), itself plausibly a variant of *sleg̑- ‘slack’ (Latin langueō ‘am faint, weak’, English slack, Old Norse slakr, etc.).

The Greek glosses ληδεῖν· κοπιᾶν, κεκμηκέναι ‘to be tired’ and ληδήσας· κεκμηκώς, κοπιάσας ‘tired’ likewise do not support the existence of *leh₁d-, since most scholars emend these to ἀηδεῖν and ἀηδήσας (e.g., GEW II:114, LIV²:400 note 1), in view of the very similar glosses ἀηδῆσαι· κοπιᾶσαι, καμεῖν ‘to be tired, to be exhausted’, ἀηδέομεν· κοπιῶμεν ‘we become weary’, ἀηδής· κοπιώδης ‘weary’, all of which are built to the compound ἀηδής. This adjective is otherwise mainly attested with the meaning ‘unpleasant’, but here with a specialized meaning ‘listless, languid’ (which arises quite naturally from the basic meaning of the underlying s-stem ἦδος n. ‘joy, pleasure’).

Latin lassus ‘tired’, traditionally reconstructed as *lh₁d-tó- (EDLIL:328 s.v. lassus, LIV²:400 note 1), may instead be explained, like crassus in Brent Vine’s analysis (Vine 2016a), as a possessive derivative *h₃l̥h₁-s-ó- to a neuter s-stem *h₃élh₁-os n. ‘physical exhaustion (or the like)’, from which (with different ablaut grades) also Lithuanian alsà f. ‘weariness’ and Vedic alasá- ‘weak, ineffective’ descend. The adjective *h₃l̥h₁-s-ó- > Lith. *ìlsas probably underlies the denominative verb Lithuanian il̃sti ‘to become tired’.

The only form that is somewhat more difficult to explain without reference to *leh₁d- is the adjective Proto-Germanic *lataz ‘slow, lazy, late’ (Gothic lats, Old English læt, English late, Old High German laz, Old Norse latr, etc.), which would have to be accounted for by assuming an analogical back formation derived from *lētana- based on the model *slēpana- ‘to sleep’ (English sleep, German schlafen, etc.) : *slapaz ‘weak, lax’ (German schlaff), imitating the ablaut *ē : *a. Such an assumption is not unduly costly, given the semantic closeness of *slapaz and *lataz, and in view of the problems that a derivation from *leh₁d- would entail both formally and phonologically: *lh₁d-o- would represent a rare zero-grade thematic adjective, and the development of  *lh₁d-o- (i.e., *l̥h₁d-o-) to *lataz would have to be analogical rather than regular.

[S.H.]

Hittite lā-/l-⁽ⁱ⁾ ‘to loosen, to release, to untie, to relieve, to remove (ailments)’(?) lē ‘not!’ (prohibitive particle); see under PAnat. *nē., lela- c. ‘conciliation, pacification’, lelā(i)- ‘to pacify, soothe’, Luwian līla- c. ‘pacification, soothing’, Cuneiform Luwian līla-^(ti) ‘to pacify, soothe’, lila(i)-^(di) ‘to become calm’, Luwian in Hittite transmission lilā(i)-^(mi) ‘to pacify, soothe’, etc.See EDHIL:523f. s.v. lela-, 509 s.v. lā-ⁱ / l-, 523 s.v. le.

Latin lētum n. ‘death’ (Plaut.+), lēnis ‘soft, mild, easy, calm, moderate’ (Plaut.+).Cf., e.g., EDLIL:335f. s.v. lētum, 333 s.v. lēnis.

Old Irish ro·lá (< *-la-i̯e-ti) ‘puts, places, sets’supplies the augmented forms of ·ceird, etc.Cf., e.g., Schumacher 2004a:442–446.

Proto Germanic *lēwa- n. ‘occasion’ (Gothic lew), lēwijana- ‘to betray, deliver’ (Gothic lewjan, Old English lǣwan, Old High German, fir-, gi-lāen), Icelandic lómur ‘betrayal’. On Proto-Germanic *lētana- ‘to let, allow’ (Gothic letan, Old English lǣtan, English let, Old Norse láta, etc.) see below.Cf., e.g., EDPG:335 s.v. *lēwjan-, LIV²:399 s.v. *leh₁-.

Lithuanian liáuti (liáuja/-na, lióvė) ‘to cease; to stop sinning; to repent’, Latvian ļaũt (-ju/-nu, ļãvu) ‘allow, permit; grant freedom of action’, Old Prussian aulāut ‘to die’; Lithuanian lė̃tas ‘small, weak, slow; simple; cowardly, underhanded’, Latvian lȩ̃ts ‘light, reckless, cheap’, Lithuanian lė́nas ‘slow, calm, gentle, mild, weak (of drinks), (dial.) flexible’, Latvian lȩ̄̀ns ‘slow, calm, gentle, mild’.Cf., e.g., ALEW I:665f. s.v. liáuti, 662f. s.v. lė̃tas, LIV²:399 s.v. *leh₁-, EDBIL:279 s.v. lėnas.

Proto-Slavic *lěviti (Ukrainian leviti ‘weaken, diminish’, Czech leviti (obs., poet.) ‘facilitate, alleviate, diminish’, Serbo-Croatian léviti (dial.) ‘waste time, loaf ’), Old Church Slavonic lětь jestъ ‘it is allowed’, Proto-Slavic *lě̑nъ ‘lazy, slow’ (Old Church Slavonic lěnъ, Czech líný, Serbo-Croatian lȉjen, etc.).Cf., e.g., EDSIL:275 s.v. *lěviti, 275 s.v. *lětь, 273 s.v. *lě̑nъ.

Albanian lë ‘to let, leave (behind), allow, quit’, aor. la.Cf., e.g., LIV²:399 s.v. *leh₁-, Schumacher & Matzinger 2013a:980.