lyej

Albanian

Etymology

The -ye- (present stem), -e- (aorist stem) point towards a Proto-Albanian *lœ-, from Pre-Proto-Albanian *(s)lōi̯e/a-, or *(s)lōCe/a- (with C = *b, *d, *u̯, *i̯ , or *s), from Proto-Indo-European *sléh₃d⁽ʰ⁾-e/o-, with a semantic change from "to smear" to "to oil, annoint".[1]

The theory by Orel which states an origin from Proto-Albanian *elaiwanja, from the root *elaiwā, a loan from Ancient Greek élai(u̯)on "oil" is untenable. The base *elaiwā is not continued in Albanian, and the presumed development of PA *-aiwa- > Alb. -ye- is ad hoc.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈlyɛj]

Verb

lyej (aorist leva, participle lyer)

  1. to paint
  2. to varnish
  3. to whitewash

Conjugation

References

  1. ^ Demiraj, Bardhyl et al. (2021) “lyej”, in DPEWA. Digitales Philologisch-Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altalbanischen [DPEWA. Digital Philological-Etymological Dictionary of Old Albanian]

Further reading

  • lyej”, in FGJSH: Fjalor i gjuhës shqipe [Dictionary of the Albanian language] (in Albanian), 2006
  • FGJSSH: Fjalor i gjuhës së sotme shqipe [Dictionary of the modern Albanian language]‎[1], 1980
  • Newmark, L. (1999) “lyej”, in Oxford Albanian-English Dictionary[2]