Lihtan

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To reduce the weight of something so it becomes easier to carry or lift ; to ease or relieve someone's burden, suffering or distress
2. To make a load less heavy to bear ; to bring comfort or alleviation to a person weighed down by hardship or sorrow
3. To lessen the heaviness of an object physically ; to give relief from a troubling burden, whether bodily or emotional

Etymology: Old English speakers used lihtan to mean "make light," whether that was a burden that had grown easier to carry or a grief that had eased. It came from the adjective "lēoht," meaning "light in weight," which is the same idea behind the Latin "levis" and the English "light" we use for something that is not heavy. The verb is a built-from-adjective formation, so its sense follows directly from the physical quality. The verb's most surprising descendant is "alight." Old English had a prefixed form, "ālihtan," meaning to get down from a horse or come down from a height, literally to make oneself light by stepping off. Over the centuries the everyday sense of "lighten" stayed in the language, while "alight" narrowed to describe climbing down or landing, as with a bird settling on a branch.