eath

See also: eaþ

English

Alternative forms

• eathe, eeth, eith, aith (Scotland)

Etymology

From Middle English ethe (“easy”), from Old English īeþe, from Proto-Germanic *auþuz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éwtus (“empty, lonely”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew-. Cognate with Scots eith (“easy”), Old Saxon ōþi (“deserted, empty”), Old High German ōdi (“empty, abandoned, easy, effortless”), Middle High German öde (“blank, vacant, easy”) (German öde), Old Norse auðr (“deserted, empty”), Icelandic auð (“easy”), Gothic 𐌰𐌿𐌸𐌴𐌹𐍃 (auþeis, “desolate, deserted”). More at easy.

Adjective

eath (comparative eather, superlative eathest)

1. (Now chiefly dialectal) Easy; not hard or difficult.
   • 1600, Edward Fairfax, The Jerusalem Delivered of Tasso, XIX, lxi:

     There, as he look'd, he saw the canvas rent, / Through which the voice found eath and open way.

   • 1609, Thomas Heywood, Troia Britanica, or Great Britain's Troy:

     At these advantages he knowes 'tis eath to cope with her quite severed from her maids.

   • 1847, Hugh Miller, First Impressions of England and its people:

     There has been much written on the learning of Shakespeare but not much to the purpose: one of our old Scotch proverbs is worth all the dissertations on the subject I have yet seen. "God's bairns", it says, "are eath to lear", […].

Antonyms

• uneath
• difficult

Derived terms

• eathly

Related terms

• eathful
• eath-kent
• eathlins
• eathy

Adverb

eath

1. (Now chiefly dialectal) Easily.
   • 1823, J. Kennedy, Poems:

     Their food and their raiment he eith can supply.

Anagrams

• HEAT, Thea, haet, hate, heat, heta