Etymology
1. O.E.
lætan "to allow, let go, bequeath, leave," also "to rent" (class VII strong verb; past tense
let, pp.
læten), from P.Gmc.
*lætan (cf. O.S.
latan, O.Fris.
leta, Du.
laten, Ger.
lassen, Goth.
letan "to leave, let"), from PIE
*le(i)d- "to leave behind, leave, yield" (cf. L.
lassus "faint, weary," Lith.
leisti "to let, to let loose"). The primary sense appears to be "to let go through weariness, to neglect." Obsolete
let (n.) "hindrance" is from O.E.
lettan "hinder, delay," from P.Gmc.
*latjanan, related to Mod.Eng.
late. Slang
letdown "disappointment" first recorded 1768.
Let on "reveal, divulge" is from 1637;
let up "cease, stop" is from 1787.
2. Derived from Middle English leten, læten, from Old English lǣtan (“to allow, let go, bequeath, leave, rent”), from Proto-West Germanic *lātan, from Proto-Germanic *lētaną (“to leave behind, allow”), from Proto-Indo-European *leh₁d- (“to be tired, leave”).
3. Cognates
4. Cognate with Scots lat, lete (“to let, leave”), Yola leth (“let”), North Frisian leet, let, lätje (“to let”), Bavarian låssn (“to let”), Dutch, Low German laten (“to let, leave”), German lassen, laßen (“to let, leave, allow”), Luxembourgish loossen (“to let, leave”), Yiddish לאָזן (lozn, “to let”), Danish lade (“to let, allow, leave”), Faroese, Icelandic láta (“to let”), Norwegian Bokmål la (“to let, leave”), Norwegian Nynorsk la, lata, late (“let, allow”), Swedish låta (“to let, allow, leave”), Gothic 𐌻𐌴𐍄𐌰𐌽 (lētan, “to let”), Albanian lë (“to allow, let, leave”) and partially related to French laisser (“to let”). See: Middle English '
leten', Proto-Germanic '
*lētaną', Scots '
lat', Low Saxon 'laten', German, old spelling '
lassen', Luxembourgish '
loossen', Danish '
lade', Icelandic '
láta', Norwegian '
la', Norwegian, nynorsk '
la', Swedish '
låta', Albanian '
lë'.
Verbs referencing "let"
Norwegian, nynorsk
la, Alemannic German
lah, German, old spelling
lassen, German, Pennsylvania
losse, Luxembourgish
loossen, Albanian
lë, Old French
laiier.