Etymology

 Always derived from ON, cp. OIcel hlíta ‘to rely on, trust, abide by’ < PGmc *hlītan; there are no known non-Scandinavian cognates (see further Dance).

PGmc Ancestor

*hlītan-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

hlíta ‘to rely on, trust, abide by’
(ONP hlíta (2) (vb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Far líta, Icel hlíta, Norw lita, Dan lide, OSw lita, Sw lita

OE Cognate

Phonological and morphological markers

Summary category

B1c

Attestation

MED has a handful of attestations from E and N texts, beginning with c1330 Þe siker soþe (Auch). EDD has citations from N/EM dial continuing into the 19c.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

WA 801

Bibliography

MED līten (v.(2)) , OED lite (v.1) , HTOED , EDD lite (v. and sb. 2), Dance lyte, de Vries hlíta, Mag. hlíta, Bj-L. lite