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LAY

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 310 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LAY , a word of several meanings. Apart from obsolete and dialectical usages, such as the See also:

East Anglian word meaning " See also:pond," possibly cognate with See also:Lat. laces, See also:pool or See also:lake, or its use in See also:weaving for the See also:batten of a See also:loom, where it is a variant See also:form of " See also:lath," the See also:chief uses are as follows: (I) A See also:song or, more accurately, a See also:short poem, lyrical or narrative, which could be sung or accompanied by See also:music; such were the romances sung by minstrels. Such an expression as the " Lay of the Nibelungen " is due to mistaken association of the word with Ger. Lied, song, which appears in Anglo-Saxon as MO. " Lay " comes from O. Fr. lai, of which the derivation is doubtful. The New See also:English See also:Dictionary rejects See also:Celtic origins sometimes put forward, such as Ir. laoidh, Welsh llais, and takes O. See also:Mid. and High Ger. leich as the probable source. (2) " Non-clerical " or " unlearned." In this sense " lay " comes directly from Fr. lai (laique, the learned form nearer to the Latin, is now used) from Lat. laicos, Gr. XaIK6s, of or belonging to the See also:people (Xahs, See also:Attic AeWS). The word is now specially applied to persons who are not in orders, and more widely to those who do not belong to other learned professions, particularly the See also:law and See also:medicine. The New English Dictionary quotes two examples from versions of the See also:Bible.

In the See also:

Douai version of 1 Sam. xxi. 4, Ahimelech tells See also:David that he has " no lay See also:bread at See also:hand but only See also:holy bread "; here the Authorized Version has " See also:common bread," the See also:Vulgate laicos panes. In See also:Coverdale's version of Acts iv. 13, the high See also:priest and his kindred marvel at See also:Peter and See also:John as being " unlearned and lay people "; the Authorized Version has " unlearned and ignorant men." In a See also:cathedral of the See also:Church of See also:England " lay clerks " and " lay vicars " sing such portions of the service as may be performed by laymen and See also:clergy in See also:minor orders. " Lay readers " are persons who are granted a See also:commission by the See also:bishop to perform certain religious duties in a particular See also:parish. The commission remains in force until it is revoked by the bishop or his successors, or till there is a new See also:incumbent in the parish, when it has to be renewed. In a religious See also:order a " lay See also:brother " is freed from duties at religious services performed by the other members, and from their studies, but is See also:bound by vows of obedience and chastity and serves the order by See also:manual labour. For " lay impropriator " see See also:APPROPRIATION, and for " lay See also:rector " see RECTOR and See also:TITHES; see further LAYMEN, HOUSES OF. (3) " Lay " as a verb means " to make to See also:lie down," " to See also:place upon the ground," &c. The past tense is " laid "; it is vulgarly confused with the verb " to lie," of which the past is " lay." The common See also:root of both " lie " and " lay " is represented by O. Teut. See also:leg; cf. Dutch leggen, Ger. legen, and Eng.

" ledge."' (4) " Lay-figure " is the name commonly given to articulated figures of human beings or animals, made of See also:

wood, See also:papier-mache or other materials; draped and posed, such figures serve as See also:models for artists (see MODELS, ARTISTS). The word has no connexion with " to lay," to place in position, but is an See also:adaptation of the word layman," commonly used with this meaning in the 18th See also:century. This was adapted from Dutch leeman (the older form is ledenman) and meant an " articulated or jointed See also:man " from led, now lid, a See also:joint; cf. Ger. Gliedermann.

End of Article: LAY

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