Etymology
Formally derived from OE, viz. Angl.
lētan (WS
lǣtan), ‘to let, allow (etc.)' < PGmc
*lētan-; cp. Go
lētan, OIcel
láta, OFris
lēta, OS
lātan, OHG
lāzan. ON input has been argued for various semantic and phrasal developments evident in ME: when the v. is used in the sense ‘to behave’ (see
MED sense 17), cp. OIcel
láta in CV metaphorical sense B1, ‘to behave, comport onself’ and also in particular the phrase OIcel
láta sem ‘to behave as if, to pretend’, which has specifically been taken as the direct model for the ME idiom
leten as (so TGD 1281n, Olszewska 1933: 76).
MED also suggests ON input in its senses ‘(a) to pay attention, listen; listen to (sb.), pay attention to, ~ at (on, upon), pay attention to (teachings, etc.), listen to (sth.); ?also, believe in (sth.)' and Olszewska (1933: 82) attributes an additional meaning, ‘to utter’, to ON influence, and derives the phrase ‘lete … lotez’ (
Gaw 1086) from ON, cp. OIcel
láta látum. Yet other authorities regard all of these senses of the v. as native developments (thus e.g.
OED, GDS, McGee), and for the 'behave' meaning cp. MLG
lāten 'behave, act'.
PGmc Ancestor
*lētan-
Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)
láta 'to put, place, suffer, grant; to leave off; to let, cause, make (etc.)
(ONP láta (vb.))
Other Scandinavian Reflexes
Far lata, láta, Icel láta, Norw låta, Dan lade, Sw låta
OE Cognate
lǣtan (Angl. lētan) ‘to let, allow (etc.)’
Phonological and morphological markers
Summary category
CC3ac
(CC4)