underlie

The story

1. Old English · inherited fromunderliċġan“to underlie, to be subject to, give way to”
2. Middle English · inherited fromunderlien
3. English todayunderlie

From Middle English underlien, underliggen, from Old English underliċġan (“to underlie, to be subject to, give way to”), equivalent to under- + lie. Cognate with Dutch onderliggen (“to lie below, lie on the bottom of”), German unterliegen (“to lie under, be subject to, succumb”).