Etymograph

English

slit

Slit comes from Old English slītan ‘to tear, rend’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *(s)leyd-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)leyd-‘to tear, rend (cut apart), split apart’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*slītaną‘to tear apart’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150slītan‘to tear, rend’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500slitten
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1637slit

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)leyd-‘to tear, rend (cut apart), split apart’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*slītaną‘to tear apart’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150slītan‘to tear, rend’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500slitten
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1637slit

Earliest quotation: 1637, Lycidas: “And slits the thin-spun life.”

The story

Apparently unrelated to English slot, whose etymology, however, is uncertain.uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.

Linked words

through Proto-Germanic *slītaną ‘to tear apart’

slice, slat, 4 more

Today it means

noun A narrow cut or opening; a slot.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *(s)leyd- / slit

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