languor
Origin
The noun is derived from Middle English langore, langour (“disease, illness; misery, sadness; suffering; condition or event causing sadness, suffering, etc.; unwholesomeness; idleness, inertia; depression, self-disgust; expression of grief”) [and other forms], from Middle French languer, langueur, langour, and Anglo-Norman langor, langour, langur, Old French langueur, languour (“disease, illness; suffering; emotional fatigue, sadness; listlessness; stagnation”) (modern French langueur (“languor”)), and from their etymon Latin languor (“faintness, feebleness; languor; apathy”), from languēre, the present active infinitive of langueō (“to feel faint or weak; (figurative) to be idle, inactive; to be listless”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leg-, *(s)leh₁g-. The English word is cognate with Catalan llangor, Italian languore (“faintness, weakness; languor”), langore (obsolete), Old Occitan langor (modern Occitan langor), Portuguese langor, languor (obsolete), Spanish langor.
lank
Origin
From Middle English lank, from Old English hlanc, from Proto-West Germanic *hlank, from Proto-Germanic *hlankaz (“lank, thin”), from Proto-Indo-European *kleng- (“to bend, turn, wind, twist”); compare German lenken (“to turn”), Gelenk (“joint”), Old High German hlanca (“hip, side, flank”), and English link (of a chain).
lapidary
Origin
The noun is derived from Middle English lapidari, lapidarie (“person who cuts, polishes, or engraves precious stones; expert in precious stones; treatise on precious stones”) [and other forms], from Old French lapidaire (“gemsmith, lapidary”) (modern French lapidaire), or from its etymon Latin lapidārius (“(adjective) of stones, stony; (noun) stonecutter”), from lapidis (the genitive singular of lapis (“stone; (poetic) jewel, precious stone”), possibly from Pre-Greek or Proto-Indo-European *lep- (“to peel”)) + -ārius (suffix forming adjectives). Noun senses 3.2 (“jewellery”) and 3.3 (“treatise on precious stones”) are derived from Latin lapidāria or lapidārium, a noun use of the neuter plural or genitive plural respectively of lapidāris (“of stone”, adjective), from lapidis (the genitive singular of lapis; see above) + -āris (suffix forming adjectives). The stone-referent adjective is either: * a learned borrowing from Latin lapidārius (adjective); or * derived from the noun. Adjective sense 6 (“succint”) is by metaphor: the speaker or writer has cut and polished their locution, as it were.
