*legʰ-

Reconstruction

The root is *legʰ- "to lie down" in LIV, Matasović, Kloekhorst and Adams, and *legh- in Beekes and de Vaan.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]} LIV classes it as an aorist root, against Harðarson, chiefly because of its parallel with *sed- "to sit down".^[1]

Morphology

LIV reconstructs a root aorist *légʰ-/l̥gʰ-, a doubtful nasal present, a thematic present *légʰ-e-, a doubtful perfect *le-lógʰ/lgʰ-, a causative-iterative *logʰ-éi̯e- and a doubtful s-desiderative; the Greek s-aorist and several Slavic stems are innovations.^[1] Kümmel adds a possible Khotanese present and the Old Irish perfect dellig (“has lain”).^[7] The causative *logʰ-éi̯e- "to lay" is in Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (lagjan, “to lay”) and Old Church Slavonic ложити (ložiti, “to lay”);^[3] Kloekhorst takes Hittite lāk- (“to make lie down”) as the same formation, moved into the hi-conjugation.^[3]

Evidence

Kölligan lists *legʰ- with *ḱei̯- among the verbs of body posture.^[8] Adams compares Tocharian lyäk- (“to lie down”) with Greek, Gothic and Old Church Slavonic forms.^[4] Beekes adds Celtic and Hittite, and notes that the form Faliscan lecet (“lies”) shows that Italic once had the verb.^[5]

Competing analyses

NIL sets up a separate, questionable root *legʰ- "light, small", which it finds hard to separate from the u-adjective of *h₁lengʷʰ-, and notes that others reconstruct it as *h₁legʰ- or *(h₁)legʷʰ-; see *h₁legʷʰ-.^[9]

Meanings

1. to lie down,^[1] to lie^[6]

LIV notes that "to lie" could be expressed in PIE by the stative present *ḱéi̯-, so a perfect of *legʰ- was not needed.^[1] Watkins observes that in Germanic *kei- "lie" was replaced by *legh-.^[10]

Derivatives

• *logʰ-o- in Ancient Greek λόχος (lókhos), Old Norse lag (“position”), whose plural means "law".^[5]
• *legh-tu- in Latin lectus (“bed”).^[6]
• Proto-Celtic *leg(y)o- (“bed, place”).^[11]

Reflexes

• Anatolian: Hittite lāk- (“to make lie down”).^[3]
• Tocharian: Tocharian B lyäk- (“to lie, lie down”).^[4]
• Greek: Ancient Greek λέχεται (lékhetai, “lies down to sleep”).^[5]
• Italic: Faliscan lecet (“lies”).^[6]
• Celtic: Old Irish laigid (“lies down”).^[2]
• Germanic: Gothic 𐌻𐌹𐌲𐌰𐌽 (ligan, “to lie”), Old Norse liggja (“to lie”), listed by LIV.^[1]
• Slavic: Old Church Slavonic лешти (lešti, “to lie down”), with a nasal present.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert, p. s.v. *legʰ-
2. ^ a b Matasović, Ranko (2009), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic, Leiden: Brill, p. 244
3. ^ a b c d Kloekhorst, Alwin (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Hittite Inherited Lexicon, Leiden: Brill, p. 514
4. ^ a b c Adams, Douglas Q. (2013), A Dictionary of Tocharian B, 2nd ed., Amsterdam: Rodopi, p. 615
5. ^ 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. λέχεται
6. ^ a b c d 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. lectus
7. ^ Kümmel, Martin Joachim, Addenda und Corrigenda zu LIV², online document, last change 16 June 2026, p. 58
8. ^ Klein, Jared; Joseph, Brian; Fritz, Matthias, eds. (2017–2018), Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics, 3 vols (HSK 41), Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton, p. 2230, ch. 124, Kölligan
9. ^ Wodtko, Dagmar S.; Irslinger, Britta; Schneider, Carolin (2008), Nomina im indogermanischen Lexikon, Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. *legʰ-
10. ^ Watkins, Calvert (1995), How to Kill a Dragon: Aspects of Indo-European Poetics, New York: OUP, p. 505
11. ^ Matasović, Ranko (2009), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic, Leiden: Brill, p. 245
12. ^ Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 270