Where does “lesse” come from?
lesse (Old French) comes from Latin laxa, from Latin laxo, from Latin laxus, from Proto-Indo-European (s)lēg- — to let go; weak, feeble; loose; dissolute, lewd;...
Ancestry of “lesse”, step by step
lesse traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Latin laxa
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Latin | laxa | second-person singular present active imperative... |
| 2 | Latin | laxo | I extend, expand; I open, make wide; I undo,... |
| 3 | Latin | laxus | wide, spacious, roomy; yielding; loose, slack,... |
| 4 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)lēg- | to let go; weak, feeble; loose; dissolute, lewd;... |
via Old French lesser
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old French | lesser | Alternative form of laissier |
| 2 | Latin | laxō | to extend, expand |
| 3 | Latin | -ō | suffixed to nouns or adjectives. Originally a-stem nouns. Later extended to nouns with other stems. Forms regular first-conjugation verbs |
| 4 | Proto-Indo-European | -ō | Derives nouns from roots |