King Leer

Apr. 18th, 2025 06:38 pm
jamesenge: (eye)
[personal profile] jamesenge

Reading some Middle English this afternoon, I came across the word lere, meaning “face”.

”That’s got to be where leer comes from,” I said, with the unwavering confidence of a folk etymologist, and then my confidence wavered a bit and I looked it up.

The democratic AHD says I’m right, deriving leer from OE hleor (≈ “side of face”, where the ear, which hears, is located), going back to PIE *kleu- “hear”.

Other cognates include listen, loud, the –laut in umlaut, Clio, the –cles in Heracles, and Greek κλέος “fame”

That’s a laut.

Mirrored from Ambrose & Elsewhere.

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