Etymology

list

L1I1S1T1

Today it means: A strip of fabric, especially from the edge of a piece of cloth. Full definition →

First used 1600Middle English lī̆st ← Medieval Latin lista ← Old French liste
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list · noun, verb1

  1. Old Englishlīste
  2. Old Frenchliste
  3. Medieval Latinlista
  4. Middle Englishlī̆st
  5. English todaylist

From Middle English lī̆st, lī̆ste (“band, stripe; hem, selvage; border, edge, rim; list, specification; barriers enclosing area for jousting, etc.”), from Old English līste (“hem, edge, strip”), or Old French liste, listre (“border; band; strip of paper; list”), or Medieval Latin lista, all from Proto-West Germanic *līstā, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *leys- (“to trace, track”). Cognates * Saterland Frisian Lieste (“margin, strip, list”) * Dutch lijst (“picture frame, list”) * German Low German Liest (“edging, border”) * German Leiste (“strip, rail, ledge; (heraldry) bar”) * Swedish lista (“list”) * Icelandic lista listi (“list”) * Italian lista (“list; strip”) * Portuguese lista (“list”) * Spanish lista (“list, roll; stripe”) * Galician lista (“band, strip; list”) * Finnish lista (“(informal) list; batten”).

list · noun2

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*leys-
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*listiz“art, craft”
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*listi
  4. Old English · inherited fromlist“art, craft; cleverness, cunning, experience, skill”
  5. Middle English · inherited fromlist
  6. English todaylist

From Middle English list, liste (“ability, cleverness, cunning, skill; adroitness, dexterity; strategem, trick; device, design, token”), from Old English list (“art, craft; cleverness, cunning, experience, skill”), from Proto-West Germanic *listi, from Proto-Germanic *listiz (“art, craft”), from Proto-Indo-European *leys-, *leyǝs- (“furrow, trace, track, trail”). The word is cognate with Dutch list (“artifice, guile, sleight; ruse, strategem”), German List (“cunning, guile; ploy, ruse, trick”), Low German list (“artifice, cunning; prudence, wisdom”), Icelandic list (“art”), Saterland Frisian list (“cunning, knowledge”), Scots list (“art, craft, skill; cunning”), Swedish list (“art; cunning, guile, wile; ruse, trick; stealth”), and possibly Spanish listo (“clever”). It is also related to learn, lore.

list · verb3

  1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*hlustiz“hearing”
  2. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*hlusti
  3. Old English · inherited fromhlystan“to listen”
  4. Middle English · inherited fromlisten
  5. English todaylist

From Middle English listen, from Old English hlystan (“to listen”), from hlyst (“hearing”), from Proto-West Germanic *hlusti, from Proto-Germanic *hlustiz (“hearing”).

list · verb, noun4

  1. Middle English · inherited fromlisten
  2. Middle English · inherited fromlist
  3. Proto-Germanic · derived from*lustuz“pleasure”
  4. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*lustijaną
  5. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*lustijan
  6. Old English · inherited fromlystan
  7. Middle English · inherited fromlisten
  8. English todaylist

From Middle English listen, list, liste, leste, lesten (“to choose, desire, wish (to do something)”), from Old English lystan, from Proto-West Germanic *lustijan, from Proto-Germanic *lustijaną, from Proto-Germanic *lustuz (“pleasure”). The word is cognate with Saterland Frisian läste (“to wish for, desire, crave”), West Frisian lêste (“to like, desire”), Dutch lusten (“to appreciate, like; to lust”), German lüsten, gelüsten (“to desire, want, crave”), Danish lyste (“to desire, feel like, want”), Faroese lysta (“to desire”). The noun sense is from the verb, or from Middle English list, liste, lest, leste (“desire, wish; craving, longing; enjoyment, joy, pleasure”), which is derived from Middle English listen, list (verb).

list · noun, verb5

Uncertain; possibly from tilting on lists in jousts, or from Etymology 4 in the sense of inclining towards what one desires.

List · proper noun6

* As a Dutch and German surname, from the noun list (“wisdom, ingenuity”). * Also as a Dutch surname, from the placename Ter List, from lis (“iris flag”). * As a Hungarian surname, Americanized from Lizst, from the noun liszt (“flour”). * As a Slovene and Serbo-Croatian surname, from list (“leaf”), or Slavicized from the Hungarian surname above.

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*leys- all →

lesseverlastingleer

Proto-Germanic*lustuz all →

lust

First known use, by meaning

  • from 1600 A register or roll of paper consisting of a compilation or enumeration of a set of possible items; the compilation or enumeration itself.
  • from early 17th c. A careening or tilting to one side, usually not intentionally or under a vessel's own power.
  • from early 17th c. To cause (something) to tilt to one side.
  • from early 17th c. To tilt to one side.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.