leaven

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English levain, also levein and leven,^[2] borrowed from Anglo-Norman levein, also Old French levain,^[3][2][4][5] from an unattested use, probably in post-classical Latin, of Latin levāmen (“alleviation, relief, comfort”),^[3][6] from levō (“to raise”) and the suffix -men,^[3][7] and that from levis (“light”),^[8][9] from Proto-Indo-European *legwh- (“having little weight”).^[5][10] The Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from 1267, and the Old French from the late 12th century.^[4][3] The classical noun meant only relief, so the American Heritage Dictionary, Klein and Merriam-Webster Unabridged assume a Vulgar Latin *levāmen, "something that raises",^[10][8][11] the Shorter Oxford and Hoad a Gallo-Romance use,^[9][6] and Dictionary.com doubts that it continues the classical noun at all.^[7] The OED compares Medieval Latin levamentum (“alleviation; raising agent”) and Old Occitan levam.^[3] Weekley notes the same idea in Dutch hef and German Hefe, both related to heave.^[12] The verb is a conversion of the noun,^{[3][5][13][9]} and the OED compares Anglo-Norman leveiner and lever.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A raising agent for dough: 1340, in the Ayenbite of Inwyt, Ase þe leuayne zoureþ.^[2][3][13] Etymonline dates it to the mid-14th century.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The figurative use came early and is literary: from before 1393, in Gower, a leaven was an agency that changes something from within, chiefly with allusion to Gospel passages such as Matthew 13:33 and 16:6.^[3][5][9] The Authorized Version's a little leauen leaueneth the whole lumpe (1 Corinthians 5:6) shows the verb and noun together.^[9] The verb is first recorded before 1400, in a translation of Lanfranc's surgery,^[3][13] which also uses the noun for any substance thought to cause fermentation, a sense the OED follows to 1892, and which medicine used for applications that encouraged suppuration.^[3][2] The verb turned figurative from 1534, in Tyndale,^[3] or the 1540s in Etymonline.^[5] Old leaven, for an unregenerate state or a surviving prejudice, dates from 1537, and of the same leaven, of the same kind, from 1543.^[3] Later the noun could also mean a tempering element mixed into something, from the late 16th century,^[9] and the verb briefly meant to corrupt by admixture;^[9] Johnson (1755) glossed it "to taint; to imbue".^[14] From at least the early 19th century the form levain was borrowed again from French for the raising agent itself.^[3] Dialect kept the plain sense: in Shetland, Lanarkshire, west Yorkshire, Gloucestershire and Cornwall a leaven was dough or meal set to ferment, with leaven-kit and leaven-tub for the vessel in the west of Yorkshire.^[15]

Timeline

• 1340 – levain, a raising agent for dough.^[3][13]
• before 1393 – figurative, an agency that changes something from within.^[3]
• before 1400 – verb, to ferment dough with a leaven; noun, any fermenting substance.^[3][13]
• before 1425 – the spelling leven.^[13]
• 1471 – the spelling leaven.^[13]
• 1534 – verb, figurative, to permeate with a transforming influence.^[3]
• 1537 – old leaven, an unregenerate state or surviving prejudice.^[3]
• 1543 – of the same leaven, of the same kind.^[3]
• 1650 – verb, intransitive, to act as a leaven; to rise.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A substance such as yeast that produces fermentation in dough or liquid.^[16][11][3]
2. A piece of fermenting dough kept from an earlier batch to start a new one; sourdough.^{[16][11][3][9]}
3. A material such as baking powder that produces gas to lighten dough or batter.^[11]
4. Something that changes a thing gradually from within: the leaven of a free press.^[16][11][3]
5. A tempering or modifying element mixed into something: a speech with a leaven of humour.^[9][3][11]
6. of the same leaven: of the same kind or character.^[3][9]
7. old leaven: in religious language, an unregenerate state; hence a surviving prejudice.^[3][9]
8. (obsolete, before 1400–1892) Any substance held to produce fermentation, or a fermenting application in medicine.^[3][2]

Verb

1. To make dough ferment or rise by means of a leaven.^[16][11][3]
2. To permeate or temper with something that modifies or enlivens: The lecturer leavened his talk with jokes.^[16][11][3]
3. (intransitive) To act as a leaven; to be fermented, to rise.^[3]

Word family

• leavening
• unleavened

Related words

• lever
• levity
• levitate
• elevate
• alleviate
• relieve
• levee
• levy
• levain

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
16. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins