See also: leð, leþ, and leth-

Cornish

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Etymology

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From Middle Cornish laez, from Old Cornish lait, from Proto-Brythonic *llaɨθ, borrowed from Latin lac. Cognate with Breton laezh and Welsh llaeth.

Noun

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leth m (plural lethow)

  1. milk

Derived terms

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Middle English

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Noun

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leth (plural leþes)

  1. Alternative form of lyth

Old Irish

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Etymology

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From Primitive Irish *ᚂᚓᚈᚐᚄ (*letas), from Proto-Celtic *letos, perhaps cognate with Latin latus (side), or from Proto-Celtic *ɸletos.[1]

Celtic cognates include Welsh lled (breadth, width, half), Middle Breton let, led (large), and Cornish les.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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leth n (genitive leith or leithe, nominative plural leth or leithe)

  1. half
    • c. 700, Glosses in the Computus Einsidlensis, published in "The early Old Irish material in the newly discovered Computus Einsidlensis (c. AD 700)", Ériu 58 (2008, Royal Irish Academy), edited and with translations by Jacopo Bisagni and Immo Warntjes
      maá triun, laigu leut
      [5/12 is] greater than one third, smaller than one half.
  2. direction
  3. side

Declension

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Especially in meaning "half":

Neuter o-stem
Singular Dual Plural
Nominative lethN lethN lethL
Vocative lethN lethN lethL
Accusative lethN lethN lethL
Genitive leithL leth lethN
Dative leuthL lethaib lethaib
Initial mutations of a following adjective:
  • H = triggers aspiration
  • L = triggers lenition
  • N = triggers nasalization

Especially in meaning "side":

Neuter s-stem
Singular Dual Plural
Nominative lethN lethN leitheL
Vocative lethN lethN leitheL
Accusative lethN lethN leitheL
Genitive leitheL leithe leitheN
Dative leithL leithib leithib
Initial mutations of a following adjective:
  • H = triggers aspiration
  • L = triggers lenition
  • N = triggers nasalization

Descendants

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  • Irish: leath
  • Manx: lieh
  • Scottish Gaelic: leth

Mutation

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Mutation of leth
radical lenition nasalization
leth
also lleth after a proclitic
ending in a vowel
leth
pronounced with /l(ʲ)-/
unchanged

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Old Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

References

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  1. ^ Matasović, Ranko (2009) “*letos”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, pages 238-239

Old Saxon

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Proto-West Germanic *laiþ.

Noun

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lēth n

  1. an evil person or thing

Declension

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Descendants

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  • Middle Low German: lêt, leit
    • Low German:
      • Westphalian:
        Münsterländisch: leed
        Westmünsterländisch: leed

Scottish Gaelic

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Etymology

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From Old Irish leth, from Proto-Celtic *letos, perhaps cognate with Latin latus (side), or from Proto-Celtic *ɸletos.[1]

Celtic cognates include Welsh lled (breadth, width, half), Middle Breton let, led (large), and Cornish les.

Pronunciation

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Numeral

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leth

  1. half

Derived terms

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References

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  1. ^ Matasović, Ranko (2009) “*letos”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, pages 238-239

Further reading

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  • Edward Dwelly (1911) “leth”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary]‎[1], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
  • Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “leth”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Yola

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Etymology

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From Middle English leten, from Old English lǣtan, from Proto-West Germanic *lātan.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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leth

  1. let
    • 1867, GLOSSARY OF THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY:
      Leth it be; Leth aam.
      Let it be; Let them.

References

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  • Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 53
  NODES
eth 63
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