The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.
Appendix I
Indo-European Roots
ENTRY:
leu-
DEFINITION:
To loosen, divide, cut apart. Derivatives include forlorn, analysis, and solve. I. Extended Germanic root *leus-.1a.lorn, losel, from Old English -losan, to lose; b. (i)forlorn, from Old English forlosan, to forfeit, lose; (ii)forlorn hope, from Dutch verliezen (past participle verloren), to lose. Both (i) and (ii) from Germanic *fer-leusan,*far-leusan (*fer-,*far-, prefix denoting rejection or exclusion; see per1). Both a and b from Germanic *leusan, with Old English and Dutch past participle loren from Germanic *luzana-, from Indo-European suffixed zero-grade form *lus-ono-.2a.leasing, –less, from Old English las, “loose,” free from, without, untrue, lacking; b.lose, loss, from Old English los, loss; c.loose, from Old Norse lauss,louss, loose; d.loess, from German dialectal lösch, loose. a–d all from Germanic *lausaz.3.leister, from Old Norse ljsta, to strike, perhaps from Germanic *leustan. II. Basic form *leu-.1.lag2, probably from a source akin to Swedish lagg, barrel stave (< “split piece of wood”), from Germanic *laww.2. Zero-grade form *lu-.a. lyo-, lysis, lyso-, –lyte, lytic, –lytic; analysis, catalysis, dialysis, lyase, palsy, paralysis, tachylyte, from Greek lein, to loosen, release, untie; b.lues, from Latin lus, plague, pestilence (< “dissolution, putrefaction”); c. prefixed form *se-lu- (se-, apart; see s(w)e-). soluble, solute, solve; absolute, absolve, assoil, dissolve, resolute, resolve, from Latin solvere, to loosen, untie. (Pokorny 2. leu- 681.)
osan, to lose; b. (i) forlorn, from Old English forl
sta, to strike, perhaps from Germanic *leustan.
ein, to loosen, release, untie; b. lues, from Latin lu
