lenity (n.)

"softness, smoothness, mildness," early 15c., from Old French lénité or directly from Latin lenitatem (nominative lenitas) "softness, smoothness, gentleness, mildness," from lenis "soft, mild" (from PIE root *‌‌lē- "to let go, slacken").

also from early 15c.

Entries linking to lenity

*lē-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to let go, slacken."

It forms all or part of: alas; allegiance; lassitude; last (adj.) "following all others;" late; latter; lenient; lenitive; lenity; let (v.) "allow;" let (n.) "stoppage, obstruction;" liege.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Greek ledein "to be weary;" Latin lenis "mild, gentle, calm," lassus "faint, weary;" Lithuanian lėnas "quiet, tranquil, tame, slow," leisti "to let, to let loose;" Old Church Slavonic lena "lazy," Old English læt "sluggish, slow," lætan "to leave behind."

Trends of lenity

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

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mercy

late 12c., "God's forgiveness of his creatures' offenses," from Old French mercit, merci (9c.) "reward, gift; kindness, grace, pity," from Latin mercedem (nominative merces) "reward, wages, pay, hire" (in Vulgar Latin "favor, pity;" in Medieval Latin "thanks; grace"), from merx (

adventure

c. 1200, aventure, auenture "that which happens by chance, fortune, luck," from Old French aventure (11c.) "chance, accident, occurrence, event, happening," from Latin adventura (res) "(a thing) about to happen," from fem. of adventurus, future participle of advenire "to come to,

nurse

c. 1200, norice, nurrice, "wet-nurse, woman who nourishes or suckles an infant; foster-mother to a young child," from Old French norrice "foster-mother, wet-nurse, nanny" (source of proper name Norris), from Late Latin *nutricia "nurse, governess, tutoress," noun use of fem. of L

stoic

late 14c., "philosopher of the school founded by Zeno" (c. 334-c. 262 B.C.E.), from Latin stoicus, from Greek stoikos "pertaining to a member of or the teachings of the school founded by Zeno, characterized by austere ethical doctrines," literally "pertaining to a portico," from

Jupiter

also Juppiter, c. 1200, "supreme deity of the ancient Romans," from Latin Iupeter, Iupiter, Iuppiter, "Jove, god of the sky and chief of the gods," from PIE *dyeu-peter- "god-father" (originally vocative, "the name naturally occurring most frequently in invocations" [Tucker]), fr

hypothesis

1590s, "a particular statement;" 1650s, "a proposition, assumed and taken for granted, used as a premise," from French hypothese and directly from Late Latin hypothesis, from Greek hypothesis "base, groundwork, foundation," hence in extended use "basis of an argument, supposition

compass

c. 1300, "space, area, extent, circumference," from Old French compas "circle, radius; size, extent; pair of compasses" (12c.), from compasser "to go around, measure (with a compass); divide equally," from Vulgar Latin *compassare "to pace out," from Latin com "with, together" (s

diligence

mid-14c., "constant and earnest effort to accomplish what is undertaken," from Old French diligence "attention, care; haste, speed" and directly from Latin diligentia "attentiveness, carefulness," from diligentem (nominative diligens) "attentive, assiduous, careful," present-part

conundrum

1590s, an abusive term for a person, perhaps meaning "a pedant;" c. 1600, "a whim;" 1640s, "pun or word-play," a word of unknown origin, said in 17c. to be Oxford University slang. Perhaps the sort of ponderous mock-Latin word that was once the height of humor in learned circles;

spurious

1590s, of persons, "born out of wedlock, bastard," from Latin spurius "illegitimate, false" (source also of Italian spurio, Spanish espurio), from spurius (n.) "illegitimate child," probably from Etruscan spural "public." The sense of "having an irregular origin, not properly con

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updated on January 30, 2018

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