layth

adj.

WA laith

'loathsome, hateful; unwilling' (Modern English )

Etymology

The spelling <ay> indicates derivation from ON (on ambiguous <ai> spellings in LB, see Dance 2003: 85), cp. OIcel leiðr 'loathed, disliked' nexts to its OE cognate lāð 'hated, hateful, hostile, evil' (which gives the more usual <o> spellings, and 1x <a> in WA); Cp. further Burg. *laiþs 'tired, hated', OFris lēth 'causing hate, evil, hatred', OS lēth 'hostile', OHG leid 'hatred, spoiled'.

PGmc Ancestor

*laiþa-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

leiðr 'loathed, disliked'
(ONP leiðr (2) adj.)

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Far leiður, Icel leiður, Norw leid, ODan leth, Dan led, OSw leþer, Sw led

OE Cognate

lāð 'hated, hateful, hostile, evil'

Phonological and morphological markers

ON /ei/ &lt; PGmc */ai/

Summary category

A1*c

Attestation

The majority of MED's citations with relevant spellings come from N/EM texts.
 

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Pat 401; WA 1258, 4748, 4793 etc.; WA 1258, 3866, 4748 etc.

The comparative form lathire is found in the A MS of WA at 1258 ('bot ilka lathire & othire'), but TPD follows the D MS ('bot lede elike loth') by printing laith.

Bibliography

MED lōth (adj.) , OED loath | loth (adj.) , HTOED , HTOED , Bj. 47, de Vries leiðr, Mag. leiður, Orel *laiþaz