Etymograph

English

lith

Lith comes from Old English liþ ‘limb, member, joint, tip of finger, point’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *liþuz.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*liþuz1‘limb’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*liþu2reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150liþ1‘limb, member, joint, tip of finger, point’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lith1
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1485lith1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English lith
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old English liþ
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, xiij: “he departed with the lady / & brouȝt her…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*liþuzWiktionary, English lith‘limb’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*liþuWiktionary, Old English liþreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150liþWiktionary, English lith‘limb, member, joint, tip of finger, point’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lithWiktionary, English lith
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1485lithWiktionary, English lith. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, xiij: “he departed with the lady / & brouȝt her…”

Every English word from Proto-Germanic *liþuz

Another origin of lith

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁lewdʰ-‘man, people’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*liudiz‘men, people’reconstructed
  3. Old Norsec. 800–1350lýðr‘people, lede’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lith‘owndom’
  5. Englishtodaylith

Another origin of lith

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱel-‘to conceal, hide’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hlidą‘door, lid, eyelid’reconstructed
  3. Old Norsec. 800–1350hlið‘a gap, gate, space’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500*lithreconstructed
  5. Englishtodaylith

Today it means

noun A limb; any member of the body.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “lith”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Old English liþ. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *liþuz / lith

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