Lyne

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An old variant spelling of line, referring to a cord, rope or thin strand of material
2. A archaic form of the word line, used for a length of cord or a rope drawn tight
3. Obsolete spelling of line meaning a slender cord, string or rope used for binding or measuring

Etymology: "Lyne" is simply an older spelling of "line", and the spelling reflects how the word was pronounced and written in Middle English. The word's oldest sense was "rope, cord, thread", and it is ultimately tied to flax. Old English "līne" meant a cable, rope, hawser or flaxen cord, and it grew out of a Proto-Germanic word for flax and linen, which in turn goes back to a Proto-Indo-European word for the same plant. So the thing a line originally was is a length of twisted fibre, not a mark or a boundary. The sense of "path" and "continuous mark" developed later from that original idea of a stretched cord. A rope or thread laid out in a straight run gave rise to meanings such as a row, a direction, and a drawn stroke. Middle English then took in the French "ligne", from Latin "linea", and that influence reshaped the spelling and meaning of the native word, so "lyne" ended up sharing its form with a Latin-derived word.