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light

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /laɪt/[1]

light1 illumination

Etymology

The light that lets us see is inherited from Middle English liht, inherited from Old English lēoht (“light, daylight; spiritual illumination”) (Anglian lēht),[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *leukhtam,[2] from Proto-Indo-European *leuk- (“light, brightness”).[2][4][3] Its relatives include German Licht and Dutch licht, and outside Germanic Latin lūx (“light”) and Ancient Greek λευκός (leukós, “white, bright”),[3][5][6] the sources of English lucid and leukaemia.[6] The spelling gh was a French scribal way of writing the Old English h sound, which has since been lost.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Light, daylight; spiritual illumination: Old English lēoht, about 725, in Beowulf.[3][2] A source of joy has been the light of one's eyes since Old English.[2]

Semantic evolution

The form liht is found about 1175, and light before 1325, after gh had begun to replace h in the early 14th century.[3] A window has been a light since 1387.[7] To stand in someone's light is from the late 14th century, and “mental illumination” from the mid-15th.[2] According to one's lights preserves a sense from the 1520s.[2] The Quakers' inner light and the religious New Light are from the 1650s.[2] A person eminent in some field has been a light since the 1590s.[2] “Something to ignite with” and in the light of date from the 1680s, as does see the light, “be born”, which came to mean “understand at last” in 1812.[2] Light for a traffic light is from 1938.[2] The adjective “bright” is Old English, and “pale”, as in light blue, is from the 1540s.[2] The verb meant “to set on fire” in late Old English, “to give light to” from about 1200, and “to shine” from about 1300.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – Old English lēoht (Beowulf).[3]
  • c. 1200 – verb, to give light to.[2]
  • 1387 – a window.[7]
  • mid-15th century – mental illumination.[2]
  • 1540s – adjective, pale.[2]
  • 1590s – an eminent person.[2]
  • 1680s – in the light of; something to ignite with.[2]
  • 1812 – see the light, understand.[2]
  • 1938 – a traffic light.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The electromagnetic radiation that the eye can perceive; brightness.
  2. A source of light, such as a lamp; a traffic light.
  3. Something used to set a fire going: a light for a cigarette.
  4. A window or other opening that admits light.
  5. An aspect or point of view: in a new light.
  6. Spiritual or intellectual enlightenment.
  7. A prominent person: a leading light.

Adjective

  1. Full of light; bright.
  2. Pale in colour: light blue.

Verb

  1. To set on fire; to ignite.
  2. To provide with light; to illuminate.

light2 not heavy

Etymology

The adjective “not heavy” is inherited from Middle English liht, inherited from Old English lēoht (“not heavy; easy; quick, agile”) (later līht),[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *lingkhtaz,[2] from Proto-Indo-European *legʷh- (“not heavy, having little weight”).[2][4][3] Its relatives include German leicht (“light; easy”), Old Norse léttr, Latin levis (“light”) and Ancient Greek ἐλαχύς (elakhús, “small”).[3][5] The Word Origins dictionary relates it to lung, the light organ, and to lights, the lungs of an animal sold as food.[6] The verb “to alight” is līhtan (“to alight; to make less heavy”), from the adjective, the idea being to relieve a horse of one's weight.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Not heavy: Old English lēoht, before 899, in Alfred's translation of Orosius.[3] Barnhart notes that Old English already had many extended senses: lightly built, gentle, easily digested, trivial.[3]

Semantic evolution

The sense “frivolous” is from the early 13th century and “unchaste” from the late 14th, both from a lack of moral weight, as in levity.[2] Light coins of short weight are recorded from 1493.[7] Make light of is from the 1520s, light horse from the 1530s and light literature from the 1590s.[2] Light industry is from 1919 and the advertisers' spelling lite from 1962.[2] The verb līhtan meant “to descend, dismount” about 1175,[3] and “to come upon by chance”, light on, from about 1470.[3][2] Light out, “to leave in a hurry”, appears in Mark Twain's Letters from Hawaii (1866), and light into, “to attack”, in 1889, both American.[3]

Timeline

  • before 899 – Old English lēoht (Alfred).[3]
  • c. 1175 – verb, to dismount.[3]
  • early 13th century – frivolous.[2]
  • c. 1470 – light on, to come upon.[3]
  • 1520s – make light of.[2]
  • 1866 – light out (Mark Twain).[3]
  • 1919 – light industry.[2]
  • 1962 – lite.[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Of little weight; not heavy.
  2. Gentle, exerting little force: a light touch.
  3. Small in amount or intensity: light rain.
  4. Easy to do or bear: light duties.
  5. Not serious; entertaining: light reading.
  6. Low in fat, calories or alcohol.
  7. Nimble, agile.

Adverb

  1. With little luggage: travel light.

Verb

  1. To get down, as from a horse; to alight or land.
  2. (with on or upon) To come upon by chance.
  • lightness
  • lightly
  • lucid
  • lunar
  • lightning
  • lighten
  • alight
  • lung
  • levity

Usage notes

The American Heritage Dictionary accepts both lighted and lit as the past tense and as adjectives.[8]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ 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 32 33 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin