alight

alight¹ to descend, settle

Etymology

The word for descending is inherited from Middle English alighten,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English ālīhtan,^[2][5][3][6] formed from ā- and līhtan (“to make light, relieve of a burden”),^[5][7][8] itself from līht (“light in weight”), the source of the adjective light.^[5][7] The prefix is explained as "down, aside" by Etymonline,^[4] as perfective by Merriam-Webster Unabridged,^[3] and as an intensifier by the American Heritage Dictionary and the Oxford Dictionary of English.^[5][9] Barnhart and Etymonline explain the descent as taking one's weight off a horse or vehicle, and so lightening it.^[7][4] The OED sets the verb beside Old High German irlīhten (“to alleviate”) and Middle Low German erlichten (“to make light”), and thinks that it may later also continue Old English gelīhtan (“to make light, to descend”) with a reduced prefix.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

To get down: about 1000, in Ælfric's Grammar, according to Barnhart,^[7] where Ic of alíhte glosses Latin desilio.^[11] An Old English homily has Zacchaeus come down from the tree: Zachéus swiftlíce of ðám treówe álíhte.^[11] The older sense, to lighten a burden or relieve a person of one, is also Old English.^[10][11] The MED's first quotation is from the Peterborough Chronicle's entry for 1123: Se kyng alihte dune of his hors.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The literal sense "to make less heavy" survived until 1678.^[10] From getting down from a horse the verb spread to leaving any conveyance,^[10][12] and by about 1330 to something in flight that comes down and settles,^[10] a use Hoad places in the 13th century.^[6] Etymonline dates its application to aircraft, at first balloons, to 1786.^[4] Chaucer and Gower each used it eleven times, for descending, dismounting and arriving, and Gower also for easing a burden.^[13] Johnson (1755) defined it as "to come down, and stop", naming a bird on the wing and a traveller on a horse or in a carriage.^[14] Two further uses have faded: a blow or projectile landing violently, from about 1300, is now rare,^[10][12] and the sense of mounting a horse, from about 1380 to 1569, ran against all the others.^[10] The sense of coming upon something by chance is recorded by the OED from 1591, in Harington,^[10] while the Shorter Oxford puts it in the mid 19th century.^[12]

Timeline

• Old English – to make light, to relieve of a burden (obsolete by 1678).^[10][11]
• c. 1000 – to get down from a horse, to descend.^[7][10]
• c. 1175 – to stop at the end of a ride.^[10]
• before 1300 – of Christ or the Holy Ghost, to descend and be with a person (obsolete by 1500).^[10]
• c. 1300 – of a blow or projectile, to land violently.^[10]
• c. 1330 – to descend and settle, of something in flight.^[10]
• c. 1380 – to mount a horse (obsolete by 1569).^[10]
• c. 1405 – to arrive, in a manuscript of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (obsolete by 1639).^[10]
• 1591 – to chance upon.^[10]
• 1786 – of aircraft, at first balloons.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To get down from a horse or a vehicle: The passengers alighted at the last stop.^[8][3][10]
2. To come down from the air and settle; to land: A wren alighted on the fence.^[8][3][10]
3. With on or upon, to come upon something by chance.^[10][12]
4. (rare) Of a blow or missile, to fall or strike.^[10][12]
5. (obsolete, Old English–1678) To lighten a burden, or relieve a person of one.^[10][11]

Word family

• alightment

alight² on fire, lit up

Etymology

The word for being on fire is apparently from Middle English alighten (“to set on fire”), with its past participle alight used as an adjective,^{[10][4][7][5][3][15]} and the verb continues Old English ālīhtan (“to illuminate”) and onlīhtan (“to light up”).^[5][2][7][4] These are formed on līhtan (“to shine, to light”), from lēoht (“a light”), the source of the noun light.^[5][11] The OED adds that the participle was later reinterpreted as a- and the noun, by analogy with afire and aflame.^[10] Hoad, the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English take a different view: it probably comes from an old phrase “on a light fire”, with light meaning "lighted", recorded from the 16th to the 18th century.^[6][12][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

On fire, burning: about 1400, in a Middle English Old Testament History that the OED prints as perhaps composed about 1280.^[10] Etymonline likewise says the early 15th century,^[4] while Barnhart dates the adjectival use to about 1300 and Hoad to the 18th century.^[7][6]

Semantic evolution

The verb behind it is recorded for lighting coals, a torch or a fire,^[2] and Etymonline says it fell out of use in the 17th century.^[4] Set phrases with the adjective came later: the OED's first record of the adverb "on fire, into flames", especially in to set alight, is from 1770.^[10] Weekley remarks that under the influence of ablaze and afire it is used only predicatively.^[15] It also meant glowing with light or colour from 1817,^[10] and it was first used of glowing with emotion in 1846, in Dickens.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1400 – on fire, in flames.^[10][4]
• 1770 – adverb, into flames, especially in to set alight.^[10]
• 1817 – glowing with light or colour.^[10]
• 1846 – figuratively, glowing with emotion.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. On fire; burning: The dry grass was soon alight.^[3][10][12]
2. Lit up; glowing with light or colour: a harbour alight with lanterns.^[3][10]
3. Lively or glowing with emotion: her eyes alight with joy.^[3][10]

Adverb

1. Into flames, especially in to set alight.^[10]