*leǵ-

Reconstruction

The root is *leg̑- "to collect, pick up" in LIV, and *leǵ- in de Vaan and Beekes.^[1][2][3] Adams writes *leĝ-.^[4] The palatal is shown by Albanian mbledh (“to collect”).^[3]

Morphology

LIV reconstructs a thematic present *lég̑-e-, a sigmatic aorist *lḗg̑/lég̑-s- in Greek ἔλεξα (élexa, “I gathered”), and a doubtful perfect *le-lóg̑/lg̑- behind Latin lēgī (“I picked up”).^[1] Jasanoff takes lēgī and Albanian mblodha (“I gathered”) as the old imperfect of a Narten present, whose present role passed to the thematic *lég̑-e/o-.^[5] De Vaan reconstructs a past participle *leǵ-to-.^[2]

Evidence

LIV cites only Greek, Latin and Albanian.^[1] Adams adds Tocharian läk- (“to see”) as probably from this root, as "gather with the eyes", together with Old English lōcian (“to look”).^[4] De Vaan considers Old Irish legaid (“melts”) a possible cognate, finding the evidence for a separate root "to trickle", as in LIV, extremely weak.^[2]

Competing analyses

Beekes notes a root *les- of the same meaning in Germanic, Baltic and Hittite, whose relation to *leǵ- is unclear.^[3]

Meanings

1. to collect, to pick up^[1]

Greek λέγω (légō) means "to collect, count", and also "to say", and Latin legō "to pick up, read".^[1] Adams adds that Latin also has "pick out sounds and sights, scan, read".^[4]

Derivatives

• Ancient Greek λόγος (lógos, “account, word”).^[2]
• Compounds such as Latin sēligō (“to weed out, select”) and Latin sublegō (“to steal away, appoint”).^[2]

Reflexes

• Tocharian: Tocharian B läk- (“to see”), probably.^[4]
• Greek: Ancient Greek λέγω (légō, “to collect, count, speak”).^[3]
• Italic: Latin legō (“to collect”).^[2]
• Albanian: Albanian mbledh (“to gather, collect”).^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert, p. s.v. *leg̑-
2. ^ a b c d e f de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. legō
3. ^ a b c d 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, p. s.v. λέγω
4. ^ a b c d Adams, Douglas Q. (2013), A Dictionary of Tocharian B, 2nd ed., Amsterdam: Rodopi, p. 596
5. ^ Jasanoff, Jay H. (2003), Hittite and the Indo-European Verb, Oxford: OUP, p. 193
6. ^ Demiraj, Bardhyl (1997), Albanische Etymologien: Untersuchungen zum albanischen Erbwortschatz, Amsterdam / Atlanta: Rodopi (Leiden Studies in Indo-European 7), p. 261