Lit
Old English lēoht, līht (noun and adjective), līhtan (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch licht and German Licht, from an Indo-European root shared by Greek leukos ‘white’ and Latin lux ‘light’.
wiktionary
From Middle English lihte, from Old English līhtte, first and third person singular preterit of līhtan(“to light”). More at light.
From Middle English lit, lut, from Old English lȳt(“little, few”), from Proto-Germanic *lūtilaz(“little, small”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewd-(“to cower, hunch over”). Cognate with Old Saxon lut(“little”), Middle High German lützen(“to make small or low, decrease”). More at little.
From Middle English lit, from Old Norse litr(“colour, dye, complexion, face, countenance”), from Proto-Germanic *wlitiz, *wlitaz(“sight, face”), from Proto-Indo-European *wel-(“to see”). Cognate with Icelandic litur(“colour”), Old English wlite(“brightness, appearance, form, aspect, look, countenance, beauty, splendor, adornment”), Old English wlītan(“to gaze, look, observe”).
From Middle English litten, liten, from Old Norse lita(“to colour”), from litr(“colour”). See above.
Short for literature.
etymonline
lit (adj.)
"illuminated; afire," past-participle adjective from light (v.2). Slang meaning "drunk" is recorded from 1914.
lit (n.1)
"color, hue, dye," early 12c., from Old Norse litr "color, hue; the color of the sky at dawn or dusk," from Proto-Germanic *wlitiz (source also of Old Frisian wlite "exterior, form," Gothic *wlits "face, form"). The cognate Old English word was wlite "brightness; appearance, form, aspect; look, countenance; beauty, splendor," which seems to have been rare after c. 1400. Compare litmus.
lit (n.2)
colloquial shortening of literature, attested by 1850.
