lav
UK[lɑːv]US[lɑːv]
v
To wash or bathe (oneself or a part of the body), especially in a ceremonial context.
v
To wash or bathe (someone else) as part of a ritual.
Etymology
The verb 'lav' is a modern, chiefly British, informal truncation of 'lave', which itself descends from the Middle English 'laven', meaning to wash or pour water. This Middle English term derives from the Old English 'lafian', which is of Germanic origin and related to the Old High German 'labōn', meaning to refresh. The ultimate source is the Proto-Indo-European root lewh₃- ('to wash'), which also gave rise to the Latin 'lavāre', the direct ancestor of words like 'lavatory' and 'lava'. The journey from the concrete, physical act of washing in ancient languages to the specific, often ritualistic sense of 'lav' demonstrates a semantic narrowing, preserving a formal or ceremonial connotation from its classical roots.
Analysis
The word 'lav' is a simplex, a clipped form of the verb 'lave'. It is not productively segmented into smaller, meaningful morphemes in modern English.
Examples
The priest will lav his hands before the sacred rite.
In some traditions, it is customary to lav the feet of a guest.
The instruction simply read: "Lav and prepare for the ceremony."