Etymology
1. O.E.
alecgan "to put down, remit, give up," a Gmc. compound (cf. Goth.
uslagjan, O.H.G.
irleccan, Ger.
erlegen), from
a- "down, aside" +
lecgan "to lay" (see lay). Pronunciations of early M.E.
-y- and
-g- were not always distinct, and the word was confused in M.E. with various senses of Romanic-derived
alloy and
allege, especially the latter in an obs. sense of "to lighten," from L.
ad- "to" +
levis."Amid the overlapping of meanings that thus arose, there was developed a perplexing network of uses of allay and allege, that belong entirely to no one of the original vbs., but combine the senses of two or more of them." [OED]
The double
-l- is 17c., a mistaken Latinism.
2. From Middle English alayen, aleyen, aleggen, from Old English āleċġan (“to put, place, lay down, lay aside, throw down, give up, cease from, abandon; put down, allay, suppress, abolish, conquer, destroy, overcome, refute; lay upon, inflict, impose upon; diminish, take away, refuse, lessen, withhold”), from Proto-Germanic *uzlagjaną (“to lay down”), equivalent to a- + lay. Cognate with German erlegen (“to impose, cause to succumb, kill”), Gothic 𐌿𐍃𐌻𐌰𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (uslagjan, “to lay down”). In Middle English the word was identical to forms of allege and alloy, leading to much overlapping of senses. See: Proto-Germanic '
*uzlagjaną', German, old spelling '
erlegen'.
Verbs referencing "allay"
German, old spelling
erlegen.