levin

Definition

Lightning; a bolt of lightning; also, a bright flame or light.

Etymology

From Middle English levene. Spellings in Middle English and Early Modern English include leven, levin, levyn, leiven, and leyven. The earlier etymology is less clear. It is thought to be related to Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌿𐌷𐌼𐌿𐌽𐌹 (lauhmuni) (which see for some more), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“bright, to shine”). Possibly a regular reflex, possibly North Germanic loan, or possibly from a lost substrate.

Example Sentences

• "His soul was like the night around us now, dark, and sultry, and silent, but lighted up by the red levin of wrath and torn by the bellowings of thunder-passion."
• "And forth rith al so leuin fares."
• "[N]either blood in face nor life in hart / It left, but both did quite drye vp, and blaſt; / As percing leuin, which the inner part / Of euery thing conſumes, and calcineth by art."