leyh₂-
“to pour, to flow, to offer a libation”Pour, flow, libation
A PIE verbal root meaning "to pour, to flow, to offer a libation," continued in Greek leíbein (λείβειν, "to pour, to offer a libation") and Latin lībāre ("to pour a libation, to taste"), whence libation. The Greek derivative lítra may underlie liter/litre. The root preserves important evidence for PIE ritual practice.
Discussion
The root *leyh₂- ("to pour") is reconstructed from Greek leíbein (λείβειν, "to pour, to make a libation"), Latin lībāre ("to pour a libation, to taste, to sip"), and possibly Old Church Slavonic liti ("to pour") and Lithuanian líeti ("to pour, to cast metal"). Pokorny (IEW 664–665) and Rix (LIV² s.v. *leyH-) discuss the root.
Latin lībāre ("to pour a libation, to taste") gave English libation, the ritual pouring of liquid (typically wine) as an offering to a deity. The extended sense "a drink" entered colloquial English. The related lībāmen ("libation offering") and dēlībāre ("to taste from, to take a sample") show the semantic extension from ritual pouring to tasting.
Greek leíbein (λείβειν, "to pour") and the noun loibḗ (λοιβή, "a drink offering, a libation") preserve the ritual sense central to Greek religion. The act of pouring wine before a meal — the spondḗ — was a fundamental religious observance.
The root provides important evidence for PIE religious practice: the consistent ritual-pouring sense across Latin and Greek confirms that libation was a PIE ceremonial act, not a later innovation. Comparative mythologists regard the IE libation as one of the most confidently reconstructed ritual behaviors.
Notes
gsc-gap: source of "libation", "liter/litre"
Laryngeal Analysis
Contains *h₂; colours and lengthens preceding vowel.
Ablaut
Full grade *leyh₂-, zero grade *lih₂-.