láta

Forms

láta (singular past indicative lét, plural past indicative létu, past participle látinn) (strong)^[1] Viking Age runic third person plural past litu, letu (létu).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *lētaną (“to let, allow”),^[4][5] a reduplicating strong verb, as the past Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌹𐌻𐍉𐍄 (lailot) shows.^[6][7] Its cognates are 𐌻𐌴𐍄𐌰𐌽 (letan), Old English lǣtan, Old Frisian lēta, Old Saxon lātan and Old High German lāzan.^[4][5]

Kroonen sets up a present Proto-Indo-European *léh₁d-e- and compares Ancient Greek ληδεῖν (lēdeîn, “to be tired”), Albanian lodh (“to tire”) and Latin lassus (“tired, weary”).^[4] Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon and Torp add a form with ⟨ei⟩ in Lithuanian léisti (“to let”).^[6][7] Hellquist concludes that the verb's first meaning was a passive one.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is the Swedish runestone U 539, which Rundata dates to the 1010s–1020s: þeir brœðr allir létu reisa stein þenna “those brothers all had this stone raised”, with the rune text litu.^[2] Hundreds of Viking Age stones use the plural past in the same way.^[3] The first manuscript record ONP dates is from 1175, in the sense “to leave (undone)”: Goþ let etke afster vanvɴnet “God left nothing undone”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

ONP's senses begin with “to leave, forsake” and “to give up, part with”, and its phrases include láta lausan “to let go”, láta hlut sinn “to be worsted” and láta blóð “to be bled”.^[9] Lexicon Poeticum derives all the senses from a basic “to give way, be passive”.^[10] Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon suggests that some senses go back to lost prefixed verbs: “to lose” to one like Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌻𐌴𐍄𐌰𐌽 (fraletan), and “to die” to one like 𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌻𐌴𐍄𐌽𐌰𐌽 (andletnan).^[6] With an infinitive it means “to let, make, cause”, and with a past participle it forms set phrases such as lét verða farit “he went”.^[11][12] The reflexive látask means “to pretend” and also “to die”, and the past participle látinn “dead”.^[6][7]

De Vries lists a borrowing into Middle English lāten “to let, allow”, after Björkman, and Shetland lod “to give a sound”.^[13] The verb continues as Icelandic láta, Swedish låta and Danish lade.^[6][8]

Timeline

• 1010s–1020s – litu (létu) “had (the stone raised)” on the Swedish runestone U 539.^[2]
• 1175 – “to leave (undone)” in Eluc674.^[9]
• About 1180 – leto (létu) in the Norwegian runic text N 564.^[14]
• 1200 – “to give up”: haɴ lét ond sina a croꜱe “he gave up his spirit on the cross”, in the homilies HómÍsl.^[9]
• 1200–1225 – lætr, later and let in AM 619 4to.^[15]

Meanings

Verb

1. to set, put, place.^[11]
2. to give up, cede, part with.^[11][9]
3. to leave, forsake;^[11][9] láta eina to leave (a wife) alone, to divorce.^[11][9]
4. to lose, with the accusative or the dative (láta lífi).^[11]
5. with an infinitive, to let, make, cause; to have something done.^[11][12]
6. to behave;^[6][16] láta sem to make as if, to pretend.^[6][16]
7. to say, declare; to make a noise.^[16]
8. (reflexive) látask to die.^[6][7]

Word family

• lát
• læti
• látinn
• eftirláta
• forláta
• fyrirláta
• uppláta
• undanláta

Descendants

• Icelandic láta^[1]
• Faroese láta^[1]
• Norwegian Bokmål la^[1]
• Norwegian Nynorsk la^[1]
• Old Swedish lāta^[1]
• Swedish låta^[1]
• Old Danish latæ^[1]
• Danish lade^[1]

Related words

• latr
• letja

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata 3.1), Uppsala universitet (inscriptions by signum), p. U 539
3. ^ a b Peterson, Lena (2006), Svenskt runordsregister, 3rd rev. ed., Runrön 2, Uppsala: Institutionen för nordiska språk
4. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 332
5. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 244
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. láta
7. ^ a b c d Torp, Alf (1909), Wortschatz der germanischen Spracheinheit (Fick, Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der indogermanischen Sprachen, 4th ed., vol. 3), Göttingen, p. 359
8. ^ a b Hellquist, Elof (1922), Svensk etymologisk ordbok, Lund, p. s.v. låta
9. ^ a b c d e f g Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. láta
10. ^ Finnur Jónsson (1931), Lexicon Poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, 2nd ed., Copenhagen: S. L. Møller, p. 362
11. ^ a b c d e f g Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. láta
12. ^ a b Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 363
13. ^ de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 346
14. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. N 564
15. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 619 4to
16. ^ a b c Faulkes, Anthony (2011), A New Introduction to Old Norse III: Glossary and Index of Names, 4th ed., London: Viking Society for Northern Research, p. s.v. láta