Delay
Middle English: from Old French delayer (verb).
wiktionary
From Middle English delaien, borrowed from Anglo-Norman delaier, Old French deslaier, from des- + Old French laier(“to leave”), a conflation of Old Frankish *lattjan("to delay, hinder"; from Proto-Germanic *latjaną(“to delay, hinder, stall”), from Proto-Indo-European *le(y)d-(“to leave, leave behind”)), and Old Frankish *laibijan("to leave"; from Proto-Germanic *laibijaną(“to leave, cause to stay”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyp-(“to remain, continue”)).
Akin to Old English latian(“to delay, hesitate”), Old English latu(“a delay, a hindrance”), Old English lǣfan(“to leave”). More at let (to hinder), late, leave.
From Middle English delaien, from Old French delaiier, a variant of delaissier.
etymonline
delay (v.)
c. 1300, delaien, "to put off, postpone;" late 14c., "to put off or hinder for a time," from Old French delaiier, from de- "away, from" (see de-) + laier "leave, let." This is perhaps a variant of Old French laissier, from Latin laxare "slacken, undo" (see lax). But Watkins has it from Frankish *laibjan, from a Proto-Germanic causative form of PIE root *leip- "to stick, adhere." Intransitive sense of "linger, move slowly" is from c. 1500. Related: Delayed; delaying.
delay (n.)
mid-13c., delaie, "a putting off, a deferring," from Old French delaie, from delaiier (see delay (v.)).
