ληδεῖν

Forms

ληδεῖν (lēdeîn), present infinitive; aorist participle ληδήσας.^[1][2]

Etymology

It is known only from two glosses of Hesychius, and its reading has long been doubted, because Hesychius also has ἀηδῆσαι (aēdêsai, “to be weary”), ἀηδέομεν (aēdéomen, “we are weary”) and ἀηδής (aēdḗs, “wearisome, sluggish”), which may be the true forms.^[1][3]

If the gloss is sound, Beekes and Frisk take it as inherited from Proto-Indo-European *leh₁d- (“to let go”), a verb formed like κηλέω (kēléō).^[1][3] It would then be cognate with Albanian lodh (“to tire”), with Latin lassus (“weary”) from the zero grade, and with Gothic 𐌻𐌴𐍄𐌰𐌽 (lētan, “to let”) and Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐍄𐍃 (lats, “sluggish”).^[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Hesychius glosses it as “to toil, to be worn out”, and the participle ληδήσας as “tired, having toiled”.^[1][2][4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To be tired, worn out with toil.^[1][2]

Related words

• Albanian lodh
• Latin lassus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
2. ^ a b c Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)