Etymograph

English

lenify

Lenify comes from Latin lēnis ‘soft, mild’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *leh₁- ‘lazy, slow’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*leh₁-‘lazy, slow’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*lēnis‘soft, mild’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElēnis‘soft, mild’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1627lenify

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*leh₁-‘lazy, slow’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*lēnis‘soft, mild’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElēnis‘soft, mild’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1627lenify

Earliest quotation: 1627, (please specify the page, or |century=I to X): “And it is used for squinancies and inflammations in…”

Linked words

through Latin lēnis ‘soft, mild’

lenient, leniency, lene, 5 more

Today it means

verb To assuage or mitigate; to soften (fever/pain/effects etc.).

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *leh₁- / lenify

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