labyrinth

The word 'labyrinth' entered English via Latin 'labyrinthus', which was borrowed from the Greek 'labýrinthos'. The Greek term referred to the legendary intricate maze built for King Minos of Crete to contain the Minotaur. The ultimate origin of the Greek word is obscure but is possibly pre-Greek, perhaps from the Lydian or Carian languages of Anatolia, potentially linked to the 'labrys' (double-headed axe), a symbol found in the Minoan palace of Knossos, the mythical site of the labyrinth. Thus, the word's journey from an ancient, possibly non-Indo-European term for a specific mythological structure evolved to denote any bewilderingly complex physical or metaphorical maze.

The word 'labyrinth' is a simplex loanword from Greek. It does not contain separable, productive morphemes in modern English spelling. Its core element 'labyrinth-' functions as a single, unanalyzable unit.