2210: Are Raise-Rise & Lay-Lie the Same Word? Jan 2, 2021

Ostensibly, the words 'rise' and 'lie' are very syntactically similar. Rare for most verb in English, they both modify apophonically (i.e. with internal vowel changes) to indicate transitivity (i.e. whether the verb takes an object). For instance, all in the present tense:

I raise something up // I rise (*something) up

I lay something down // I lie (*something) down

the latter forms of each being impossible in English. These 4 forms are often considered different words altogether rather than 2, in part because they conjugate differently, past tense perfect:

raise-raised; rise-rose; lay-lain; lie-lay.

Note also that while the intensive form 'arise' exists, there is no 'araise', nor for that matter intensive 'alay' nor 'alie'). While these are therefore almost certainly separate, apophany indicates multiple functions and not only tense or pluralization, so it is not so clear cut. If there is another word you know that indicates transitivity; there are some.