Etymograph

English

lysis

Lysis comes from Latin lysis ‘loosening’, from Ancient Greek λῠ́σῐς ‘loosing, releasing, release, ransoming’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewh₁-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*lewh₁-‘to cut off, release’reconstructed
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEλύωlúō‘to loose’
  3. Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEλῠ́σῐςlŭ́sĭs‘loosing, releasing, release, ransoming’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElysis‘loosening’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1902same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*lewh₁-‘to cut off, release’reconstructed
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEλύωlúō‘to loose’
  3. Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEλῠ́σῐςlŭ́sĭs‘loosing, releasing, release, ransoming’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElysis‘loosening’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1902same form

Earliest quotation: 1902, William James, Lecture VIII: The Divided Self, and the Process of Its Unifi: “The older medicine used to speak of two ways,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *lewh₁- ‘to cut off, release’

so, lose, solution, solve, lease, sol, soluble, resolute, loess, 33 more

through Ancient Greek λύω ‘to loose’

analyst, palsy, paralyze, paralytic, 18 more

Today it means

noun A plinth or step above the cornice of the podium in an ancient temple.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *lewh₁- / lysis