Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to lie down, lay."
It forms all or part of: allay; anlage; belay; beleaguer; bylaw; coverlet; fellow; lager; lair; law; lawful; lawless; lawsuit; lawyer; lay (v.) "to cause to lie or rest;" ledge; ledger; lees; lie (v.2) "rest horizontally;" litter; lochia; low (adj.) "not high;" outlaw; scofflaw; stalag; vorlage.
It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Hittite laggari "falls, lies;" Greek lekhesthai "to lie down," legos "bed," lokhos "lying in wait, ambush," alokhos "bedfellow, wife;" Latin lectus "bed;" Old Church Slavonic lego "to lie down;" Lithuanian at-lagai "fallow land;" Old Irish laigim "I lie down," Irish luighe "couch, grave;" Old English licgan "be situated, have a specific position; remain; be at rest, lie down."
Old English triewð (West Saxon), treowð (Mercian) "faith, faithfulness, fidelity, loyalty; veracity, quality of being true; pledge, covenant," from Germanic abstract noun *treuwitho, from Proto-Germanic treuwaz "having or characterized by good faith," from PIE *drew-o-, a suffixed form of the root *deru- "be firm, solid, steadfast." With Germanic abstract noun suffix *-itho (see -th (2)).
Sense of "something that is true" is first recorded mid-14c. Meaning "accuracy, correctness" is from 1560s. English and most other IE languages do not have a primary verb for "speak the truth," as a contrast to lie (v.). Truth squad in U.S. political sense first attested in the 1952 U.S. presidential election campaign.
At midweek the Republican campaign was bolstered by an innovation—the "truth squad" ..., a team of senators who trailed whistle-stopping Harry Truman to field what they denounced as his wild pitches. [Life magazine, Oct. 13, 1952]
Let [Truth] and Falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter. [Milton, "Areopagitica," 1644]
"a lie," especially a little one, "a white lie," 1610s, of uncertain origin, perhaps from fibble-fable "nonsense" (1580s), a reduplication of fable (n.).
"leaning, reclining," 1705, from Latin recumbentem (nominative recumbens), present participle of recumbere "recline, lie down, lie down again;" of things, "to fall, sink down, settle down," from re- "back" (see re-) + -cumbere "to lie down" (related to cubare "lie down;" see cubicle). Related: Recumbency (1640s); recumbence (1670s). A verb, recumb, has been attempted in English occasionally since 1670s.
"tendency or disposition to lie, habitual lying," also "a falsehood, a lie," 1640s, from French mendacité and directly from Late Latin mendacitas "falsehood, mendacity," from Latin mendax "lying; a liar" (see mendacious).
"given to lying, speaking falsely; having the characteristics of a lie, false, untrue," 1610s, from French mendacieux and directly from Latin mendacium "a lie, untruth, falsehood, fiction," from mendax (genitive mendacis) "lying, deceitful," from menda "fault, defect, carelessness in writing," from PIE root *mend- "physical defect, fault" (see amend (v.)). The sense evolution of Latin mendax was influenced by mentiri "to speak falsely, lie, deceive." Related: Mendaciously; mendaciousness.
"timbers supporting a floor, etc.," early 14c. gist, giste, from Old French giste "beam supporting a bridge" (Modern French gîte), noun use of fem. past participle of gesir "to lie," from Latin iacēre "to lie, rest," related (via the notion of "to be thrown") to iacere "to throw" (from PIE root *ye- "to throw, impel"). The notion is of a wooden beam on which boards "lie down." The modern English vowel is a corruption.
"dregs, sediment of wine or any liquor," late 14c., from Old French lies, plural of lie "dregs, sediment," which is probably from Celtic *leg-ya- (compare Old Irish lige "a bed, a lying"), from PIE root *legh- "to lie down, lay."
