LOOSE
[K]HaLahTS Het-Lamed-Tsadi
Ha-LUTZ חלץ [H-L-TS à
LS]
ROOTS:
The Indo-European (IE) “root” of LOOSE and LOSS is leu-1 (to loosen, divide, cut apart) . Old English leosan is to lose.
חלץ [K]HaLahTS is to loose a shoe off a
foot (Deuteronomy 25:9). Similarly, although we now reverse the liquid-fricative, Moses is told
to של SHahL (remove or loosen) his sandals (Exodus 3:5).
Another Shin-Lamed letting go or slipping off is שלח SHaLa[K]H – see
“SLOUGH.” The Shin-Lamed sub-root of
loosening is also seen at the “SLIP” entry, as שלף SHaLaPH is the action of loosening, drawing, or sliding
a sword out of a sheath (Joshua 5:13).
See “SLIP.”
Like של SHahL, Shin-Lamed-Phey is used for loosening or slipping out of one’s
sandal – Ruth 4:7. שלל SHaLaL, booty, is that which is loosened from victims
(Joshua 22:8) and SHoLaL means stripped of or loosened of Micah 1:8. חלצה [K]HaLeeTSaH also means booty.
Derived from שלשל SHiLSHaiL, a letting down and lowering (as one’s guard), שלשול SHiLSHOOL means the
loosening of the bowels, or diarrhea.
ש-לShin-Lamed antonyms of
looseness include שלבSHaLaBH (bound or fit together – Exodus 26:17). The
opposite of taken or loosened booty, שלל SHaLaL, is the possessive pronoun של SHeL (belonging to).
The large fricative-liquid family of both
looseness and binding together is in the Word Families chapter of The Origin
of Speeches and in the “Synonyms and Antonyms” document in the Edenics CD
III. Newer designed
opposites are in the eBook, “A Garden of Edenics.”
Even שלום SHaLoM and שלוה SHaLVaH (see “SOLEMN” and “SALVATION”) are “peace” words because times are LOOSE, and not tight with tension, the stricture of ש-ל Shin-Lamed shifted to the painful צ-ר Tsadi-Resh words like צר TSahR (oppressor, enemy,
distress) seen at “STRESS.”
Physically
tight words, tied up tight like צרור TSiROAR (bundle) and צרר TSaRahR (to bind or wrap
up) are at “SARI.” More
of these below.
Words that do not begin with the ש-ל Shin-Lamed sub-root of looseness:
חשל [K]HaSHaL is to be faint, to lag
behind (Deuteronomy 25:18);כשל KaSHaL is to stumble (Jeremiah 18:23); in
Hoshea 14:2 the falling is clearly moral, as Samaria has been lax and loose in
observance, and must repent.
לשלשת LiSHLeSHeT are bird droppings
(Post-Biblical-Hebrew); משל MaSHaL is to metaphorically,
loosely compare (Numbers 21:27 ; נשל NaSHaL (Deuteronomy 19:5)
is to slip, drop off, shed or fall off; רשל ReeSHeL
(Aramaic) is to weaken or loosen.
For
the built-in opposites, note these liquid-fricative and fricative-liquid words of tight restriction: פשל PaSHaL and הפשיל HeePSHeeYL is to knot or fasten, and to leave behind, throw back. It’s not
Biblical, but Semitic, and may echo the Shin-Resh of פשר PeSHeR, to dissolve, solve (loosening a knotty problem).
The
closest to L-S is חלץ
[K]HaLahTS, to gird (also Syriac). A blouse in
Modern Hebrew is a חלצה [K]HooLSTaH. Its built-in opposite is the identical חלץ [K]HaLahTS , to draw off, withdraw, to loose of our heading. A second
antonym, this by metathesis, is לחץ La[K]HahTS
(pressure
– Numbers 22:25).
LOOT is somehow filed under the IE “root” reup (to snatch). LOOT is
better taken out from חלץ [K]HaLahTS, to withdraw, take out,
rob (Psalm 7:5) and Aramaic-Syriac “he despoiled.” [EDK]
Also see “RAID.”
LASHING and LACING are binding verbs, but no etymon is older than Old French lachier.
Edenic offers many source words, including
שלב SHahLe(V), to join together.
צור TSOOR is to bind up (Deuteronomy 14:25);
אסור A$OOR is one put in fetters (Judges 16: 21);ארז ARahZ is firmly bound,
packed (Ezekiel 27:24) and אזר
AZahR is to bind (Jeremiah 1:17 -- see “RICE”).
Battlefield plunder, שלל SHaLahL, is literally LOOSED from the bodies,
including ring fingers, of vanquished
foes.
The של SHahL! (LOOSE your sandals from off your feet of
Exodus 3:5) is seen in the reversed לוש LOOSH, to knead. Kneading
is LOOSENING dough (Genesis 18:6). Reversability is also seen in the
following doublet:
חלש [K]HaLaSH, weak,
to weaken (Exodus 17:13) is a synonym by
metathesis of חשל K[H]aSHaL above, and a welcome slackening word in
the English S-L sequence. See “SLACK.”
Another fricative-liquid "opener" is שער SHa'[A]R (to split open);
Harkavy has this explain
why this word means a gate. See “ARREST”
and “SARI” for tight antonyms.
The
body part named for hanging loosely is the לשון LaSHOAN (tongue, see
"SLANG"). A loose tongue can sink more ships than loose lips.
נשל NaSHaL, to fall off, cast out = the nasal-fricative sub-root of “moving
away” at the “MISS” entry (includes נוס NOO$, to escape) + the S-L sub-root seen here at “LOOSE.”
שרא
SHaRAy is to loose, or unravel in the Aramaic of Daniel
5:12.
Many
fricative-liquid opposite words
of tying up at “SARI.”
חלץ
[K]HaLahTS, to loosen (Isaiah 20:2) is
the designed opposite of
חלץ
[K]HaRahTSa(V) to bind fast, in the tight fetters of Isaiah
58:6
BRANCHES: עצל
[A]TSeL is the looseness of laziness; see “LAZY.” Reverse Tsadi-Lamed to get Hungarian lusta, lazy. The PARA- of PARALYSIS is allegedly from the
Greek prefix para (on one side, from עבר [A]BHahR -- see “OVER.”) This strange etymology requires only
an L-S weakness or looseness on
one side. A more logical alternative involves a reverse
רפה RaPHaH (weak) or רפף RaPHaPH (waver, WAFFLE, loosen… like Arabic raffa,
it quivered)
, combined with חלש [K]HaLaSH (weak) and other L-S words here.
See “LEFT.” Also see פלץ PaLaTS )to shudder) at “FLUTTER” and “PALSY.”
Palsy
and paralysis are different medical conditions, of course, but early on they
may have been grouped together as weakening, loosening ailments of the limbs.
These
medical words are post-Biblical, but שלשל SHiLSHaiL and שלשול SHiLSHOOL mean the loosening
of diarrhea. Reversing the Edenic sub-root, as with the Shin-Lamed here, rarely
produces words of loose association.
Listed
cognates of LOOSE and LOSS include ABSOLUTE, ABSOLVE, ANALYSIS, CATALYSIS,
DIALYSIS, DISSOLVE, FORLORN, LEASING,
-LESS, LOSE, LYSIS, LYSO-, -LYTLE, -LYTIC, PARALYSIS, RESOLVE, SOLUBLE,
SOLUTION and SOLVE . Notice how some
words are LS, but some are reversed to SL.
Silo
is
to open in Araona (Amazon). Letting
loose of property involves a LEASE. Letting an animal out of a pen to accompany
one with a LEASH also involves a loosening, and the permission of an owner.
Both LEASE and LEASH are tethered to Latin laxare,
to loosen. Even though LAX sounds too hard for our ש-ל Shin-Lamed etymons of
LOOSENESS and LAXITY above, LEASE and LEASH fit the authoritative loosening of רשות RiSHOOT (permission). LASSITUDE is a listless
weakness, from Latin lassitude. The
muscles have loosened with torpor.
Armenian tongue is lizu.
LUSH
(luxuriant), is yet another reversed ש-ל Shin-Lamed word. It is traced to Old French lasche,
soft, succulent, then all the way back
(for the Semitically-challenged) to Latin laxāre, to open, relax.
רשיון RiSHaYOAN is a LICENSE in Modern Hebrew. Permission or רשות
RiSHOO(S), to say, get a
permit or LICENSE to drive. Once one understands that a LICENSE is
permitting, letting go, it is easier to hear the ש-ל
Shin-Lamed (reversed) looseness, or even LICENSE as a nasalized, S-L רשות RiSHOO(S). LICENTIOUSNESS,
LICENTIOUS behavior lacks the authority of a LICENSE (permit), but it certainly
has Edenic liquid-fricative LOOSENESS. Latin licere, is to be allowed.
So, one has license to bypass רשות RISHOO(S) and to revert to ש-ל Shin-Lamed (loosness).
In
Farsi/Persian loose is shol.
Räsä and
risa are broken in Finnish (liquid-fricative); löysä is loose
as in relaxed [MN]. German
lasch is limp or lax from < ß של SHahL,
loose ! While German lässig, indolent,
sluggish < M231 S-G S-F
חלש K[H]aLahSH, weak. In Spanish laso is weak or limp, and lasitud is LASSITUDE. The similar opposite of unwilling
fricative-liquid LOOSENESS, is liquid-fricative willful letting lose. Resh-Shin allowance is recorded in רשיון RiSHYOAN (leave, permission
– Ezra 3:7). רשהRaSHaH, to have leave, is
the older word, and has an R-SH Aramaic cognate. In Japanese yurushi means permission, while yurusu is a verb of permitting or allowing. More Resh-Shin
looseness at “ILLICIT.”
For
Indo-European languages favoring liquid-fricative or fricative-liquid, see “SOLVE.”
The
IE “root” of LOOSE was listed as leu-1 (to loosen) . As seen above, one of the alleged cognates
is LEASE. נשה NaSaH is “to remove” (Harkavy). The same נשה NaSaH means to lent on usury (for interest – Deuteronomy 24:10
and Jeremiah 15:10. The
Noon-to-L shift, see Appendix B, is rarely brought up, but the LOOSE-LEASE connection warrants
it. A LEASED property is
temporarily let go, or just LET.
The Shin-Lamed
LOOSENING or slipping of נשל NaSHahL, to slip or drop off is
seen a liquid shift away in נשר NaSHahR is to fall off, drop (Biblical Aramaic). The fastest-dropping animal is the
plummeting eagle or נשר NeSHeR.
שלח SHaLa[K]H letting go,
theologically, is סלח $aLa[K]H, forgiveness (Exodus 34:9). Begging forgiveness
to ask a favor, "please" is silahkan in Indonesian and sila in Malay.
A
Turkish eraser is silgi. The verb silmek got nasalized, but means to delete,
wipe away, erase -- good סליחה $LeeYK[H]aH, forgiveness.
Mikko
Nuuttila adds verbal looseness. In Finnish löysä is loose, and lässyttää is to talk
loosely, much nonsense. French laisser, to let, allow,
allowed English the mellow letting slide of LAISSEZ FAIRE.
See
“SLOUGH.”