laissier

• laiser, laisier, laisser, lesser, lessier

From Latin laxō, laxāre (“to relax, loosen”); also possibly partly from or influenced by Old High German lāzan (“to let, let go, leave”) (German lassen), from Proto-West Germanic *lātan (“to let, leave, leave alone”). There was also an Old French verb laiier, with the same meaning and sometimes considered a variant form, which may have come instead from Frankish *laibijan.

laissier

1. to allow; to permit
   • c. 1250, Marie de France, Guigemar:

     Kar ne se volt laissier murir

     Because he didn't want to let himself die

2. to leave (not prohibit)

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -ier, with a palatal stem. These verbs are conjugated mostly like verbs in -er, but there is an extra i before the e of some endings. The forms that would normally end in *-ss, *-sss, *-sst are modified to s, s, st. This verb has irregularities in its conjugation. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

• Middle French: laisser, laissier
  • French: laisser
    • → Breton: lezel
• Norman: laîssi
• Picard: laissier
• → Middle English: *lesen
  • English: lease, leese
    • → Dutch: leasen
    • ⇒ English: leasing
      • → Spanish: leasing
      • → Finnish: leasing
      • → Polish: leasing
      • → Swedish: leasing
  • Scots: lease
  • → Middle Irish: léas
    • Irish: léas

• laiier, laire

• laicier

From Old French laissier, from Latin laxō, laxāre (“to relax, loosen”); partly from or influenced by Old High German lāzan (“to let, let go, leave”) (German lassen), from Proto-West Germanic *lātan, from Proto-Germanic *lētaną (“to let, leave, leave alone”), from Proto-Indo-European *leh₁d- (“to leave, let”).

Conflated also with Old French laiier (“to leave, abandon, allow”) (compare Old Occitan laihar, laiar, Old Northern Italian lagare), also of Germanic origin, from Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (lagjan, “to lay, let lie, leave”), from Proto-Germanic *lagjaną (“to lay”). More at let, lay.

laissier

1. to let, to leave

   I feut laissier ches vakes din'ch prè.

   You have to let the cows in the field.

2. to leave alone
3. to leave with, to give
4. to let, to allow

   Laisse-les foaire !

   Let them do !

5. (reflexive, ès laissier) to allow oneself, to let oneself