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, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew- (“to enjoy, consume”). Cognate with Scots eith (“easy”), Old Saxon ōþi, Old High German ōdi (“easy, effortless”), Middle High German œde (“easy”), Old Norse auðr, auð- (“easy”), Icelandic auð (“(adverb) easily”), auð- (“easy”). 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
• eathlins
• eathy

Adverb

eath

1. (Now chiefly dialectal) Easily.
   • 1593, Thomas Nashe, The Choice of Valentines, lines 142-143:

     He rub'd, and prickt, and pierst her to the bones, / Digging as farre as eath he might for stones ...

   • 1823, J. Kennedy, Poems:

     Their food and their raiment he eith can supply.

Anagrams

• HEAT, Thea, haet, hate, heat, heta