Etymology, English, List

Etymology

Noun. From Middle English lī̆st, lī̆ste (“band, stripe; hem, selvage; border, edge, rim; list, specification; barriers enclosing area for jousting, etc.”), from Old English līste (“hem, edge, strip”), or Old French liste, listre (“border; band; strip of paper; list”), or Medieval Latin lista, all from Proto-Germanic *līstǭ (“band, strip; hem, selvage; border, edge”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *leys- (“to trace, track”). The word is cognate with Dutch lijst (“list”), Finnish lista (“(informal) list; batten”), Galician lista (“band, strip; list”), German Leiste (“ledge; (heraldry) bar”), Icelandic lista, listi, Italian lista (“list; strip”), Portuguese lista (“list”), Spanish lista (“list, roll; stripe”), Swedish lista (“list”).

The etymology of the (archaic) Art; craft; cunning; skill. From Middle English list, liste (“ability, cleverness, cunning, skill; adroitness, dexterity; stratagem, trick; device, design, token”), from Old English list (“art, craft; cleverness, cunning, experience, skill”), from Proto-Germanic *listiz (“art, craft”), from Proto-Indo-European *leys-, *leyǝs- (“furrow, trace, track, trail”). The word is cognate with Dutch list (“artifice, guile, sleight; ruse, strategem”), German List (“cunning, guile; ploy, ruse, trick”), Low German list (“artifice, cunning; prudence, wisdom”), Icelandic list (“art”), Saterland Frisian list (“cunning, knowledge”), Scots list (“art, craft, skill; cunning”), Swedish list (“art; cunning, guile, wile; ruse, trick; stealth”), and possibly Spanish listo (“clever”). It is also related to learn, lore.

Verb. From Middle English listen, list, liste, leste, lesten (“to choose, desire, wish (to do something)”), from Old English lystan, from Proto-Germanic *lustijaną, from Proto-Germanic *lustuz (“pleasure”). The word is cognate with Danish lyste (“to desire, feel like, want”), Dutch lusten (“to appreciate, like; to lust”), Faroese lysta (“to desire”), Old Norse lyste (“to desire; to lust”), Old High German lusten (modern German gelüsten and lüsten).

The noun sense is from the verb, or from Middle English list, liste, lest, leste (“desire, wish; craving, longing; enjoyment, joy, pleasure”), which is derived from Middle English listen, list (verb).

Pronunciation

• enPR: lĭst, IPA^(key): /lɪst/

Noun

list (plural lists)

1. A strip of fabric, especially from the edge of a piece of cloth.
2. Material used for cloth selvage.
3. A register or roll of paper consisting of a compilation or enumeration of a set of possible items; the compilation or enumeration itself. [from 1600]
4. (in the plural, historical) The barriers or palisades used to fence off a space for jousting or tilting tournaments.
5. (in the plural, military, historical) The scene of a military contest; the ground or field of combat; an enclosed space that serves as a battlefield; the site of a pitched battle.
6. (computing, programming) A codified representation of a list used to store data or in processing; especially, in the Lisp programming language, a data structure consisting of a sequence of zero or more items.
7. (architecture) A little square moulding; a fillet or listel.
8. (carpentry) A narrow strip of wood, especially sapwood, cut from the edge of a board or plank.
9. (ropemaking) A piece of woollen cloth with which the yarns are grasped by a worker.
10. (tin-plate manufacture) The first thin coating of tin; a wire-like rim of tin left on an edge of the plate after it is coated.
11. (obsolete) A stripe.
12. (obsolete) A boundary or limit; a border.

Verb

list (third-person singular simple present lists, present participle listing, simple past and past participle listed)

1. (transitive, archaic) To be pleasing to.
2. (transitive, archaic) To desire, like, or wish (to do something).