Etymology

belay

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Today it means: To make (a rope) fast by turning it around a fastening point such as a cleat. Full definition →

Middle English beleggen ← Old English beleċġan ← Proto-West Germanic *bilaggjan
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The story

  1. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*bilaggjan
  2. Old English · inherited frombeleċġan“to cover, invest, surround, afflict, attribute to, charge with, accuse”
  3. Middle English · inherited frombeleggen
  4. English todaybelay

From Middle English beleggen, bileggen, from Old English beleċġan (“to cover, invest, surround, afflict, attribute to, charge with, accuse”), From Proto-West Germanic *bilaggjan, equivalent to be- (“about, around”) + lay. Cognate with Dutch beleggen (“to cover, overlay, belay”), German belegen (“to cover, occupy, belay”), Swedish belägga (“to pave”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.