Online Etymology Dictionary

adagio (adv.): c. 1746, in music, "slowly, leisurely and gracefully," Italian, from ad agio, from ad "to, at" (see ad-) + agio "leisure," from Vulgar Latin adiacens, present participle of adiacere "to lie at, to lie near" (compare adjacent). In noun sense of "a slow movement," first attested 1784.
ceilidh (n.): 1875, from Irish céilidhe, from Old Irish céle "companion," from PIE *kei-liyo-, from root *kei- "beloved, dear," primarily "to lie; bed, couch" (see cemetery).
mendacity (n.): "tendency to lie," 1640s, from Middle French mendacité and directly from Late Latin mendacitas "falsehood, mendacity," from Latin mendax "lying; a liar" (see mendacious).
joist (n.): "timbers supporting a floor, etc.," early 14c. gist, giste, from Old French giste "beam supporting a bridge" (Modern French gîte), noun use of fem. past participle of gesir "to lie," from Latin iacēre "to lie, rest," related (via the notion of "to be thrown") to iacere "to throw" (see jet (v.)). The notion is of a wooden beam on which boards "lie down." The modern English vowel is a corruption.
recumbent (adj.): 1705, from Latin recumbentem (nominative recumbens), present participle of recumbere "recline, lie down, lie down again;" of things, "to fall, sink down, settle down," from re- "back" (see re-) + -cumbere "to lie down" (see succumb). Related: Recumbency (1640s). A verb, recumb, has been attempted in English occasionally since 1670s.
whopper (n.): 1767, "uncommonly large thing," originally and especially an audacious lie, formed as if from whop (v.) "to beat, overcome." Whopping "large, big, impressive" is attested by 1620s.
cemetery (n.): late 14c., from Old French cimetiere "graveyard" (12c.), from Late Latin coemeterium, from Greek koimeterion "sleeping place, dormitory," from koiman "to put to sleep," keimai "I lie down," from PIE root *kei- "to lie, rest," also "bed, couch," hence secondary sense of "beloved, dear" (source also of Greek keisthai "to lie, lie asleep," Old Church Slavonic semija "family, domestic servants," Lithuanian šeima "domestic servants," Lettish sieva "wife," Old English hiwan "members of a household," higid "measure of land," Latin cunae "a cradle," Sanskrit Sivah "propitious, gracious"). Early Christian writers were the first to use it for "burial ground," though the Greek word also had been anciently used in reference to the sleep of death. An Old English word for "cemetery" was licburg.
untruth (n.): Old English untreowþ "unfaithfulness, treachery," from un- (1) "not" + truth (n.). Similar formation in Old Norse utrygð. Meaning "falsehood" is attested from mid-15c., as is that of "a lie." Related: Untruthful.
Aztec: 1787, from Spanish Azteca, from Nahuatl aztecatl (plural aztecah), meaning "coming from Aztlan," name of their legendary place of origin, usually said to lie somewhere in what is now southwestern U.S.
interjacent (adj.): 1590s, from Latin interiacentem (nominative interiacens) "lying between," present participle of interiacere "to lie between," from inter- (see inter-) + iacere "to throw; to set, establish" (see jet (v.)). Related: Interjacency.
latescent (adj.): "tending to become latent or obscure, not obvious to perception," 1836, from Latin latescentem (nominative latescens), present participle of latescere "to hide oneself, be hidden," inchoative of latere "to lie hidden" (see latent). Related: Latescence.
circumjacent (adj.): late 15c., from Latin circumiacens, present participle of circumiacere "to border upon, to lie round about, enjoin," from circum- "around" (see circum-) + iacere "to throw, cast, hurl" (see jet (v.)). Related: Circumjacence; circumjacency.
procumbent (adj.): "leaning forward," 1660s, from Latin procumbentem (nominative procumbens), present participle of procumbere "to fall forward, fall prostrate," from pro "forward" (see pro-) + -cumbere "to lie down" (see succumb). Related: Procumbently.
accoucheur (n.): 1759, "midwife" (properly, "male midwife"), from French accoucheur (Jules Clément, later 17c.), agent noun from accoucher "to go to childbed, be delivered" (13c.) originally simply "to lie down" (12c.), from Old French culcher "to lie," from Latin collocare, from com- "with" (see com-) + locare "to place" (see locate). The fem. is accoucheuse (1847).
incubation (n.): 1610s, "a brooding," from Latin incubationem (nominative incubatio) "a laying upon eggs," noun of action from past participle stem of incubare "to hatch," literally "to lie on, rest on," from in- "on" (see in- (2)) + cubare "to lie" (see cubicle). The literal sense of "sitting on eggs to hatch them" in English is first recorded 1640s.
incumbent (n.): early 15c., "person holding a church position," from Medieval Latin incumbentem (nominative incumbens) "holder of a church position," noun use of present participle of incumbere "to obtain or possess," from Latin incumbere "recline on," figuratively "apply oneself to," from in- "on" (see in- (2)) + -cumbere "lie down," related to cubare "to lie" (see cubicle). Extended to holders of any office from 1670s.
gist (n.): 1711, "the real point" (of a law case, etc.), from Anglo-French legalese phrases such as cest action gist "this action lies," from Old French gist en "it consists in, it lies in," from gist (Modern French gît), third person singular present indicative of gésir "to lie," from Latin iacet "it lies," from iacere "to lie, rest," related to iacere "to throw" (see jet (v.)). Extended sense of "essence" first recorded 1823.
mendacious (adj.): 1610s, from Middle French mendacieux, from Latin mendacium "a lie, untruth, falsehood, fiction," from mendax (genitive mendacis) "lying, deceitful," from menda "fault, defect, carelessness in writing," from PIE root *mend- "physical defect, fault" (see amend (v.)). The sense evolution of Latin mendax was influenced by mentiri "to speak falsely, lie, deceive." Related: Mendaciously; mendaciousness.
lurch (n.2): "predicament," 1580s, from Middle English lurch (v.) "to beat in a game of skill (often by a great many points)," mid-14c., probably literally "to make a complete victory in lorche," a game akin to backgammon, from Old French lourche. The game name is perhaps related to Middle English lurken, lorken "to lie hidden, lie in ambush," or it may be adopted into French from Middle High German lurz "left," also "wrong."
soak (v.): Old English socian (intransitive) "to soak, to lie in liquid," from Proto-Germanic *sukon (source also of West Flemish soken), possibly from PIE *sug-, from root *seue- (2) "to take liquid" (see sup (v.2)). Transitive sense "drench, permeate thoroughly" is from mid-14c.; that of "cause to lie in liquid" is from early 15c. Meaning "take up by absorption" is from 1550s. Slang meaning "to overcharge" first recorded 1895. Related: Soaked; soaking. As a noun, mid-15c., from the verb.
succubus (n.): late 14c., alteration (after incubus, giving a masc. form to a word generally felt as of female meaning) of Late Latin succuba "strumpet," applied to a fiend (generally in female form) having sexual connection with men in their sleep, from succubare "to lie under," from sub- "under" (see sub-) + cubare "to lie down" (see cubicle). Related: Succubine (adj.).
succumb (v.): late 15c., from Old French succomber "succumb, die, lose one's (legal) case," and directly from Latin succumbere "submit, surrender, yield, be overcome; sink down; lie under; cohabit with," from sub "down" (see sub-) + -cumbere "take a reclining position," related to cubare "lie down" (see cubicle). Originally transitive; sense of "sink under pressure" is first recorded c. 1600. As a euphemism for "to die," from 1849. Related: Succumbed; succumbing.
falsehood (n.): c. 1300, falshede, "deceitfulness," also "a lie; that which is false," from false + -hood. Formed on the same pattern are Old Frisian falschede, Dutch valschheid, German Falschheit, Swedish falskhet. Former noun forms in English, now extinct, included falsage "wrongdoing" (late 15c.), falsdom "deceitfulness, treachery; a lie" (c. 1300), fals-lek "falsehood" (early 14c.), falsshipe "deceitfulness, dishonesty" (c. 1200).
latent (adj.): mid-15c., "concealed, secret," from Latin latentem (nominative latens) "lying hid, concealed, secret, unknown," present participle of latere "lie hidden, lurk, be concealed," from PIE *late-, suffixed form of root *lādh- "to be hidden" (source also of Greek lethe "forgetfulness, oblivion," lethargos "forgetful," lathre "secretly, by stealth," lathrios "stealthy," lanthanein "to be hidden;" Old Church Slavonic lajati "to lie in wait for"). Meaning "dormant, undeveloped" is from 1680s, originally in medicine.
Upanishad (n.): one of a class of speculative treatises in Sanskrit literature, 1805, from Sanskrit upa-nishad, literally "a sitting down beside." From upa "near to" (see up (adv.)) + ni-shad "to sit or lie down," from ni "downward" (from PIE *ni-, see nether) + -sad "sitting," From PIE *sed- (1) "to sit" (see sedentary).
hic jacet: Latin, hic iacet, "here lies," commonly the first words of Latin epitaphs; from demonstrative pronominal adjective of place hic "this, here" + iacet "it lies," third person singular present indicative of iacere "to lie, rest," related to iacere "to throw" (see jet (v.)).
nuzzle (v.): early 15c., "to bring the nose to the ground," back-formation from noselyng "on the nose, prostrate," frequentative of nose (v.); meaning "burrow with the nose" is first attested 1520s; that of "lie snug" is from 1590s, influenced by nestle, or by nursle, frequentative of nurse. Related: Nuzzled; nuzzling.
lower (v.2): "to look dark and threatening," also lour, Middle English louren, luren "to frown" (early 13c.), "to lurk" (mid-15c.), from Old English *luran or from its cognates, Middle Low German luren, Middle Dutch loeren "lie in wait." Form perhaps assimilated to lower (1). Related: Lowered; lowering.
repose (v.1): "lie at rest," mid-15c., from Middle French reposer, from Old French repauser (10c.), from Late Latin repausare "cause to rest," from Latin re-, here probably an intensive prefix (see re-), + Late Latin pausare "to stop" (see pause (v.)). Related: Reposed; reposing.
lurk (v.): c. 1300, lurken "to hide, lie hidden," probably from Scandinavian (compare dialectal Norwegian lurka "to sneak away," dialectal Swedish lurka "to be slow in one's work"), perhaps ultimately related to Middle English luren "to frown, lurk" (see lower (v.2)). Related: Lurked; lurking.
await (v.): mid-13c., awaiten, "to wait for," from Old North French awaitier (Old French agaitier) "to lie in wait for, watch, observe," from a- "to" (see ad-) + waitier "to watch" (see wait (v.)). Originally especially "wait for with hostile intent, wait to ambush or spy upon." Related: Awaited; awaiting.
cower (v.): c. 1300, probably from Middle Low German *kuren "lie in wait" (Modern German kauern), or similar Scandinavian words meaning "to squat" and "to doze" (such as Old Norse kura, Danish, Norwegian kure, Swedish kura). Thus unrelated to coward. Related: Cowered; cowering.
scoundrel (n.): 1580s, skowndrell, of unknown origin. One suggestion is Anglo-French escoundre (Old French escondre) "to hide, hide oneself," from Vulgar Latin *excondere, from Latin condere "to hide" (see abscond). The main objection to this theory is that hundreds of years lie between the two words.
gas (v.): 1886, "to supply with (illuminating) gas," from gas (n.1). Sense of "poison with gas" is from 1889 as an accidental thing, from 1915 as a military attack. In old slang also "talk nonsense, lie to." Related: Gassed; gassing; gasses.
fabricate (v.): mid-15c., "to fashion, make, build," from Latin fabricatus, past participle of fabricare "to make, construct, fashion, build," from fabrica (see fabric). In bad sense of "tell a lie (etc.)," it is recorded by 1779. Related: Fabricated; fabricating.
lounge (n.): "comfortable drawing room," 1881, from lounge (v.); in the sense of "couch on which one can lie at full length," it is attested from 1830. Lounge lizard is by 1917, perhaps from 1912, a term of contempt, originally in reference to men who hung around in tea rooms to flirt.
latebrous (adj.): "full of hiding places," 1650s, from Latin latebrosus, from latebra "a hiding place," from latere "to lie hidden" (see latent). Hence latebricole "living or lurking in holes" (of spiders, etc.), from Latin latebricola "one who dwells in lurking places."
fable (n.): c. 1300, "falsehood, fictitious narrative; a lie, pretense," from Old French fable "story, fable, tale; drama, play, fiction; lie, falsehood" (12c.), from Latin fabula "story, story with a lesson, tale, narrative, account; the common talk, news," literally "that which is told," from fari "speak, tell," from PIE root *bha- (2) "speak" (see fame (n.)). Restricted sense of "animal story" (early 14c.) comes from Aesop. In modern folklore terms, defined as "a short, comic tale making a moral point about human nature, usually through animal characters behaving in human ways" ["Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore"].
grovel (v.): 1590s, Shakespearean back-formation from groveling "on the face, prostrate" (mid-14c.), also used in Middle English as an adjective but probably really an adverb, from gruffe, from Old Norse grufe "prone" + obsolete adverbial suffix -ling (which survives also as the -long in headlong, sidelong). The Old Norse word is found in liggja à grufu "lie face-down," literally "lie on proneness." Old Norse also had grufla "to grovel," grufa "to grovel, cower, crouch down." The whole group is perhaps related to creep (v.). Related: Groveled; grovelled; groveling; grovelling.
rough (v.): late 15c., from rough (adj.). Related: Roughed; roughing. Phrase rough it "submit to hardships" (1768) is originally nautical:
To lie rough; to lie all night in one's clothes: called also roughing it. Likewise to sleep on the bare deck of a ship, when the person is commonly advised to chuse the softest plank. [Grose, "Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue," 1788]
To rough out "shape or plan approximately" is from 1770. To rough up "make rough" is from 1763. To rough (someone) up "beat up, jostle violently" is from 1868. The U.S. football penalty roughing was originally a term from boxing (1866).
epeiric (adj.): in reference to seas covering continental shelves, 1915, from Greek epeiros "mainland, land, continent," from PIE root *apero- "shore" (source also of Old English ofer "bank, rim, shore," Old Frisian over "bank") + -ic.
As the term "continental deposits" in this sense is now ingrained in Geology, we can no longer use Dana's "continental seas" without raising a question in the mind as to what is meant when their deposits are considered. For this reason we propose here to use epeiric seas (meaning seas that lie upon the continents) for the bodies of water that lie within the continents in the downwarps of the continental masses. [Louis V. Pirsson, "A Text-Book of Geology," 1915]
rest (v.1): "repose, cease from action," Old English ræstan, restan "take repose by lying down; lie in death or in the grave; cease from motion, work, or performance; be without motion; be undisturbed, be free from what disquiets; stand or lie as upon a support or basis," from root of rest (n.1). Transitive senses "give repose to; lay or place, as on a support or basis" are from early 13c. Meaning "cease from, have intermission" is late 14c., also "rely on for support." Related: Rested; resting. Common Germanic, with cognates in Old Frisian resta, Dutch rusten, Old High German raston, German rasten, Swedish rasta, Danish raste "to rest." Resting place is from mid-14c.
cubicle (n.): mid-15c., "bedroom," from Latin cubiculum "bedroom," from cubare "to lie down," originally "bend oneself," from PIE root *keu(b)- "to bend, turn." With Latin -clom, suffix denoting place. Obsolete from 16c. but revived 19c. for "dormitory sleeping compartment," sense of "any partitioned space" (such as a library carrel or, later, office work station) is first recorded 1926.
lanthanum (n.): metallic rare earth element, 1841, coined in Modern Latin by Swedish chemist and mineralogist Carl Gustav Mosander (1797-1858), who discovered it in 1839, from Greek lanthanein "to lie hidden, escape notice," from PIE root *ladh- "to be hidden" (see latent). So called because the element was "concealed" in the earth from which he extracted it.
incubus (n.): "imaginary being or demon, credited with causing nightmares, and, in male form, consorting with women in their sleep," c. 1200, from Late Latin incubus (Augustine), from Latin incubo "nightmare, one who lies down on (the sleeper)," from incubare "to lie upon" (see incubate). Plural is incubi. Compare succubus.
eldorado (n.): 1590s, from Spanish El Dorado "the golden one," name given 16c. to the country or city believed to lie in the heart of the Amazon jungle, from past participle of dorar "to gild," from Latin deaurare, from de-, here probably intensive, + aurare "to gild," from aurum (see aureate). The story originated with the early Spanish explorers, and the place was sought for down to the 18th century.
patio (n.): 1818, "inner court open to the sky," from Spanish patio probably from Old Provençal patu, pati "untilled land, communal pasture," from Latin pactum "agreement" (see pact). Another theory traces the Spanish word to Latin patere "to lie open." Meaning "paved and enclosed terrace beside a building" first recorded 1941. Patio furniture is attested from 1969.
forestall (v.): late 14c. (implied in forestalling), "to lie in wait for;" also "to intercept goods before they reach public markets and buy them privately," which formerly was a crime (mid-14c. in this sense in Anglo-French), from Old English noun foresteall "intervention, hindrance (of justice); an ambush, a waylaying," literally "a standing before (someone)," from fore- "before" + steall "standing position" (see stall (n.1)). Modern sense of "to anticipate and delay" is from 1580s. Related: Forestalled; forestalling.
Lorelei: 1843, from German, name of a rock in the River Rhine near Koblenz, Germany. In legend, a lovely woman sat atop it and sang while combing her long blond hair, distracting sailors so their ships foundered on the rock and they drowned. The second element of the name probably is Rhenish dialect lei "cliff, rock;" the first element is perhaps from Middle High German lüren "to lie in wait"
transcend (v.): mid-14c., "escape inclusion in; lie beyond the scope of," from Old French transcendre "transcend, surpass," and directly from Latin transcendere "climb over or beyond, surmount, overstep," from trans- "beyond" (see trans-) + scandere "to climb" (see scan (v.)). Meanings "be surpassing, outdo, excel; surmount, move beyond" are from early 15c. Related: Transcended; transcending.