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BIBLIOGRAPHIC IDENTITYetymonline-lay

SOURCE
RECORD.

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historical dictionaryetymonline-lay

Lay — Origin and history

AUTHOR / EDITOR
Douglas Harper
YEAR
2026
PUBLISHER
Online Etymology Dictionary
DOI
Not recorded
SOURCE TYPE
historical dictionary
EXTERNAL RECORD
OPEN ORIGINAL ↗
3CANONICAL EDGES
0WITNESSES
0COMPARISONS
0CONTEXT LINKS
0RANKED REVEALS
2DISPUTES
0JOURNEY STAGES
1WORD DOSSIERS
01

CONTRARIAN TRUTH CLAIMS

RANKED REVEALS THAT CITE THIS SOURCE

0
No ranked contrarian reveal currently cites this source.
02

SCHOLARLY DISAGREEMENT

DISPUTE POSITIONS THAT CITE THIS SOURCE

2
resolvedcontextestablished

Are lay and lie simply the same verb?

They are historically related but grammatically distinct inherited verbs: lay is transitive and causative, while lie is intransitive; lay is also the standard past tense of lie, which creates modern ambiguity.

Headword history: causative of the verb represented by lie

Documents the deeper grammatical relationship.

lay dossier ↗dispute record ↗
03

CANONICAL RELATIONSHIP CLAIMS

EDGES THAT CITE THIS SOURCE

3
EDGE 510supportsestablished

lay → leggen / leyen

Present-Day English → Middle English · historical continuation

SOUND
Middle English leggen / leyen stabilizes as lay while pronunciation and spelling converge on the modern form.
MEANING
Putting or setting down remains central while many constructions and figurative uses develop.
SCHOLAR / EDITOR
Merriam-Webster · Etymonline · American Heritage editors
Headword history: Middle English leien

Documents the Middle English continuation.

OPEN THE PERMANENT CLAIM ↗
EDGE 512supportsprobable

lecgan → *lagojanan

Old English → Proto-Germanic · inheritance

SOUND
Old English lecgan continues reconstructed Proto-Germanic *lagojanan with West Germanic sound development.
MEANING
To cause something to lie yields the transitive verb to lay or set down.
SCHOLAR / EDITOR
Etymonline · UT LRC editors
Headword history: Proto-Germanic *lagojanan

Publishes the reconstructed Germanic stage.

OPEN THE PERMANENT CLAIM ↗
EDGE 513supportsprobable

*lagojanan → *legh-

Proto-Germanic → Proto-Indo-European · inheritance

SOUND
Proto-Germanic *lagojanan is a causative formation in the PIE *legh- lie-and-lay family.
MEANING
A state of lying supplies a causative act of putting or setting down.
SCHOLAR / EDITOR
Etymonline · UT LRC editors
Headword history: *lagojanan from PIE *legh-

Publishes the causative formation and deeper root.

OPEN THE PERMANENT CLAIM ↗
04

LEXICAL ATTESTATIONS

WITNESSES REPORTED BY THIS SOURCE

0
No lexical witness currently cites this source.
05

COMPARATIVE EVIDENCE

COGNATES, DESCENDANTS, AND RELATIVES

0
No comparative-relative record currently cites this source.
06

GEOGRAPHIC AND TEMPORAL CLAIMS

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0
No journey-stage claim currently cites this source.
07

NON-GENEALOGICAL CONNECTIONS

HISTORICAL CONTEXT, KEPT SEPARATE

0
No non-genealogical context link currently cites this source.
08

WORD-FAMILY REUSE

DOSSIERS THAT DEPEND ON THIS SOURCE

1
lay5 CLAIM LINKS↗

3 entry-scoped citations map reviewed dossier paths onto the canonical claims above.