licham

The story

1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*līkahamô
2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*līkahamō
3. Old English · inherited fromlīċhama“body”
4. Middle English · inherited fromlicham
5. English todaylicham

From Middle English licham, lichame, from Old English līċhama (“body”), from Proto-West Germanic *līkahamō, from Proto-Germanic *līkahamô, equivalent to like (“body”) + hame (“covering, case”). In Old English, līchama was the general term for "body," while līċ had come to mean a dead body specifically. Cognate with Scots lekame (“body”), West Frisian lichem (“body”), Dutch lichaam (“body”), German Leichnam (“body, corpse”), Danish legeme (“body”), Swedish lekamen (“body”), Icelandic líkami (“body”).