paralysis [OE] This is a Latin word, formed from Greek paraluesthai ‘be disabled at the side’, formed from para ‘beside’ and luein ‘loosen’. Paralytic is Late Middle English, and comes via French from the same source. The sense ‘extremely drunk’ dates from the mid 19th century. Palsy [ME] is from Old French paralisie, which was an alteration of Latin paralysis. The Greek luein is also found in analysis [L16th] literally a ‘loosening up’.