Source etymology 1 · variant 1/2
Original entry ↗To raise or rise. · To cause to move upwards. · To steal. · To source directly without acknowledgement; to plagiarise.
From Middle English liften, lyften, from Old Norse lypta (“to lift, air”, literally “to raise in the air”), from Proto-Germanic *luftijaną (“to raise in the air”), related to *luftuz (“roof, air”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *lewp- (“to peel, break off, damage”) or from a root meaning roof (see *luftuz). Cognate with Danish and Norwegian Bokmål løfte (“to lift”), Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish lyfta (“to lift”), German lüften (“to air, lift”), Old English lyft (“air”). See above. 1851 for the noun sense "a mechanical device for vertical transport". (To steal): For this sense Cleasby suggests perhaps a relation to the root of Gothic 𐌷𐌻𐌹𐍆𐍄𐌿𐍃 (hliftus) "thief", cognate with Latin cleptus and Greek κλέπτω (kléptō)). But perhaps simply from the idea of removing an item from a surface.
Relationships mentioned by the source
These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.
This page abbreviates 13 auxiliary source items. The etymology narrative is not shortened. Omission counts are available in the audit fields below; consult the original for complete auxiliary material.
Inspect preserved source fields
Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.
{
"templates": [
{
"name": "inh",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "enm",
"3": "liften"
},
"expansion": "Middle English liften"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "non",
"3": "lypta",
"4": "",
"5": "to lift, air",
"lit": "to raise in the air"
},
"expansion": "Old Norse lypta (“to lift, air”, literally “to raise in the air”)"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "gem-pro",
"3": "*luftijaną",
"4": "",
"5": "to raise in the air"
},
"expansion": "Proto-Germanic *luftijaną (“to raise in the air”)"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "ine-pro",
"3": "*lewp-",
"4": "",
"5": "to peel, break off, damage"
},
"expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *lewp- (“to peel, break off, damage”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "da",
"2": "-"
},
"expansion": "Danish"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "nb",
"2": "løfte",
"3": "",
"4": "to lift"
},
"expansion": "Norwegian Bokmål løfte (“to lift”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "nn",
"2": "-"
},
"expansion": "Norwegian Nynorsk"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "sv",
"2": "lyfta",
"3": "",
"4": "to lift"
},
"expansion": "Swedish lyfta (“to lift”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "de",
"2": "lüften",
"3": "",
"4": "to air, lift"
},
"expansion": "German lüften (“to air, lift”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "ang",
"2": "lyft",
"3": "",
"4": "air"
},
"expansion": "Old English lyft (“air”)"
},
{
"name": "sense",
"args": {
"1": "To steal"
},
"expansion": "(To steal):"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "la",
"2": "cleptus"
},
"expansion": "Latin cleptus"
}
],
"links": [
[
"liften",
"liften#Middle_English"
],
[
"lyften",
"lyften#Middle_English"
],
[
"lypta",
"lypta#Old_Norse"
],
[
"*luftijaną",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/luftijaną"
],
[
"*luftuz",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/luftuz"
],
[
"*lewp-",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/lewp-"
],
[
"*luftuz",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/luftuz"
],
[
"løfte",
"løfte#Norwegian_Bokmål"
],
[
"lyfta",
"lyfta#Swedish"
],
[
"lüften",
"lüften#German"
],
[
"lyft",
"lyft#Old_English"
],
[
"𐌷𐌻𐌹𐍆𐍄𐌿𐍃",
"𐌷𐌻𐌹𐍆𐍄𐌿𐍃#Gothic"
],
[
"cleptus",
"cleptus#Latin"
],
[
"κλέπτω",
"κλέπτω#Ancient_Greek"
]
],
"references": [],
"descendants": [],
"lexical": [
{
"pos": "verb",
"glosses": [
"To raise or rise.",
"To cause to move upwards.",
"To steal.",
"To source directly without acknowledgement; to plagiarise."
],
"tags": [
"ambitransitive",
"transitive",
"slang"
],
"recordId": "c89ae8a748c7606089845e043f81ee440e3635358c01cafd5bb1d8d7b08106a7",
"rawRecordSha256": "633bb0df5836ec55884895147c4761d9a00d2a100b89bb8f8f87a6170a12fe8a",
"sourceRecordOrdinal": 39207
}
],
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"lexicalSenses": 13,
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}
}