lyþen

v.

WA lithelythe, pres. 3 sg. lythislightez

'to hear' (Modern English lithe)

Etymology

cp. OIcel hlýða ‘to listen, be proper (to)’ < PGmc verb *xleuþjan- or *xleuðjan-; cp. OIcel hljóð ‘silence, sound’ < PGmc *xleuþan,  (and cp. the similar *xleuþran > OE hlēoþor ‘hearing, noise, sound’, OHG hliodar-, etc.); under this interpretation the medial fricative is not a reliable test of loan, since PGmc /ð/ with Verner's Law need not be supposed; alternatively (and less convincingly) < PGmc *xlūðjan-, a derivative on the adj. *xlūða- (see Orel).

PGmc Ancestor

*xleuþjan- or *xleuðjan-; or less likely *xlūðjan-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

hlýða ‘to listen, be proper (to)’
(ONP hlýða (2) (vb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Far lýða, Icel hlýða, Norw lyda, Dan lyde, Sw lyda

OE Cognate

Phonological and morphological markers

ON /y/ &lt; */iu/ by front mutation

[ON fricative /ð/ < PGmc */ð/] (may not be applicable)

Summary category

A1c

Attestation

Relatively widespread in early ME; especially frequent in N, E and alliterative texts in the 14c and 15c.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 1719; WA 4, 1650, 3468 etc.

Bibliography

MED līthen (v.3) , OED lithe (v.3) , HTOED , EDD lithe (v.1), Dance lyþen, Bj. 115, 164, de Vries hlýða (2), Jóh. 276, Mag. hlýða (2), Heid. hleuþa-, hlūda-, Orel *xlūðjanan