allay

Etymology

This word came into English through Middle English alayen, aleyen, aleggen, which developed from Old English āleċġan (“to put, place, lay down, lay aside, throw down, give up, cease from, abandon; put down, allay, suppress, abolish, conquer, destroy, overcome, refute; lay upon, inflict, impose upon; diminish, take away, refuse, lessen, withhold”). That in turn goes back to Proto-Germanic *uzlagjaną (“to lay down”), equivalent to a- + lay. It is cognate with German erlegen (“to impose, cause to succumb, kill”) and Gothic uslagjan (“to lay down”). In Middle English the word looked the same as forms of allege and alloy, which caused much overlap between their meanings.