• Clay_pidgin
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    English
    271 month ago

    How does one pronounce “lief”? LEEF? LIFE?

    • @[email protected]
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      fedilink
      251 month ago

      Pronounced like leaf. Apparently it basically means “gladly”. Seems to have died out in the early 20th century.

      lief
      /lēf/

      adverb
      Readily; willingly.
      “I would as lief go now as later.”

      Gladly; willingly; freely; – now used only in the phrases, had as lief, and would as lief.
      “I had, or would, as lief go as not”

        • @[email protected]
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          fedilink
          51 month ago

          It sounds a lot like the dutch “net zo lief” which translates to “just as lovely” and we still use it today in this context.

      • Clay_pidgin
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        English
        71 month ago

        I’ve read it in older books with even older characters, but I’ve not once heard it said! Thank you.