Etymograph

English

lenity

Lenity comes from Latin lēnitās ‘softness, smoothness’, from lēnis ‘soft’, and ultimately from 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’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CElēnitās‘softness, smoothness’
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600lénité
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588lenity

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’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CElēnitās‘softness, smoothness’
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600lénité
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588lenity

Earliest quotation: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “His Highneſſe pleaſure is that he ſhould liue, And…”

Formed from -ity

Linked words

through Latin lēnis ‘soft’

lenient, leniency, lene, 5 more

Today it means

noun leniency, mercy, forgiveness

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

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

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