Etymograph

English

lither

Lither comes from Old English lȳþre ‘bad, wicked’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *(s)lew- ‘limp, slack’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)lew-‘limp, slack’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*lūþrijaz‘bad’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150lȳþre‘bad, wicked’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lither
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1515–1516same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)lew-‘limp, slack’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*lūþrijaz‘bad’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150lȳþre‘bad, wicked’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lither
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1515–1516same form

Earliest quotation: c. 1515–1516, Against Venemous Tongues Enpoysoned with Sclaunder and False: “For though some be lidder, and list for to…”

The story

Sense 1.2 (‘flexible, supple; agile, lithe’) is influenced by lithe.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)lew- ‘limp, slack’

slumber, 2 more

Today it means

adj Lazy, slothful; listless.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *(s)lew- / lither

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