leigh

See also: Leigh, léigh, and lèigh

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English legh, lege, lei (“clearing, open ground”) from Old English lēah (“clearing in a forest”) from Proto-Germanic *lauhaz (“meadow”), from Proto-Indo-European *lówkos (“field, meadow”). Akin to Old Frisian lāch (“meadow”), Old Saxon lōh (“forest, grove”) (Middle Dutch loo (“forest, thicket”); Dutch -lo (“used in placenames”)), Old High German lōh (“covered clearing, low bushes”), Old Norse lō (“clearing, meadow”). More at Waterloo.

Pronunciation

Noun

leigh (plural leighs)

  1. (archaic) A meadow.

Manx

Etymology

From Old French lei (“law”), ultimately from Latin lēx.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): [lɛi]

Noun

leigh f (genitive singular leigh, plural leighaghyn or leighyn)

  1. law

Derived terms

Middle English

Verb

leigh

  1. Alternative form of laughen

Yola

Verb

leigh[1]

  1. Alternative form of leiough
    • 1867, “A YOLA ZONG”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 2, page 84:
      Ch'am a stouk, an a donel; wou'll leigh out ee dey.
      I am a fool and a dunce; we'll idle out the day.

Verb

leigh

  1. Alternative form of leeigh (“to laugh”)
    • 1927, “ZONG O DHREE YOLA MYTHENS”, in THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD, page 131, lines 14[2]:
      But aal a bys do leigh an praat,
      But all the boys do laugh and prate,

References
  1. Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 52
  2. Kathleen A. Browne (1927) The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland Sixth Series, Vol.17 No.2, Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, page 131
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