n.
Gaw slyʒt, pl. sleʒtez; Cl slyʒt; Pat pl. slyʒtes; WA sleght, slyght, pl. sleʒtis, sleghtes, sleghtez
‘cunning, skill; device, stratagem; act of practised skill’
(Modern English sleight)Probably direct from the ON abstract n. formed on slœgr, viz. cp. OIcel slægð ‘slyness, cunning’. Some ME forms retain a final fricative; in the Gaw variant (as in PDE sleight) final /t/ arose by dissimilation (and/or by adaptation on the model of nouns in -t, e.g. OE sliht ‘slaughter’ (see further OED, which compares PDE height). See also sleʒe.
PGmc Ancestor
*slōg-
Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)
slægð ‘slyness, cunning’
(ONP slǿgð (sb.))
Other Scandinavian Reflexes
Icel slægð, Norw sløgd, OSw slöghþ, Sw slögjd
OE Cognate
cp. slēan (v.) 'to strike, beat, stamp, coin (money), forge (weapons)'
Phonological and morphological markers
Summary category
C1
MED cites a handful of early attestations (inc. the Trin.Hom.), but only frequent from 14c.
Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus
Gaw 916, 1542, 1854, etc., Cl 1289; Pat 130; WA 38, 334, 1022 etc.
Gaw 1854 slyʒt is printed as sliʒt by Madden. TPD supplies another instance at WA 126, emending MS salmary dangell to *sorsery and sleʒt.