leysa

From Old Norse leysa, from Proto-Germanic *lausijaną.

Cognate with Dutch lozen, English loose (from Old Norse lauss), obsolete English leese (from Old English līesan), German lösen; also Danish løse, Faroese loysa, Norwegian Bokmål løse/løyse, Norwegian nynorsk løyse/løysa and Swedish lösa.

• IPA^(key): /ˈleiːsa/

  Rhymes: -eiːsa

leysa (weak verb, third-person singular past indicative leysti, supine leyst)

1. to loosen [with accusative]

   Synonym: losa

2. to resolve, to solve, to unravel [with accusative]

   Synonyms: ráða, ráða fram úr, finna lausn, finna lausn á

   Ég er að reyna að leysa þetta vandamál.

   I am trying to solve this problem.

3. to untie, to extricate, unfasten [with accusative]

   Synonym: losa

4. (impersonal, of snow) with various meanings, e.g. of snow thawing

   Snjóinn leysir. þolfallsfrumlag (“an accusative subject”)

   The snow is thawing.

   Móðurinni leystist höfn. þágufallsfrumlag (“a dative subject”)

   The mother lost her unborn child.

• losna