Where does “lie” come from?
Lie comes from Middle English lie, from Middle French lien, from Latin ligō meaning to bind or tie.
lie (English): To rest in a horizontal position on a surface; To...
Definitions
- To rest in a horizontal position on a surface; To...
Ancestry of “lie”, step by step
lie traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Middle English lie
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | lie | — |
| 2 | Old English | lyġe | lie, falsehood |
| 3 | Proto-West Germanic | *lugi | false, lying |
| 4 | Proto-Germanic | lugiz | lie, falsehood |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | lewgʰ- | to lie, to tell falsehood |
via Norwegian Lie
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Norwegian | Lie | — |