Obs. Forms: 1 léc-, léah-, léhtun, 3 ley(h)tun, leiȝhton, 4 lahtoun, leiȝ-, leyȝton, lectun, 7 liten, 8 laghton, laighton. [OE. léahtún, earlier *léactún, f. léac LEEK + tún enclosure: see TOWN.] A garden.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Luke xiii. 19. Onʓelic is corne senepes þætte ʓenumen wæs monn sende in lehtune his.
c. 1050. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 460/30. Ortus olerum, leahtun.
c. 1275. Passion our Lord, 291, in O. E. Misc., 45. I wis þu were myd ihesu crist in þe leyhtune.
13[?]. Childh. Jesu, 1618, in Horstm., Altengl. Leg. (1875), 54. Jacob … bad him go … A non riȝht doun into þe leiȝhtone, For to bringuen heom wuyrtone.
c. 1327. Treat. Dreams, in Rel. Ant., I. 264. Lahtoun make ant to-delve.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIII. xvi. (Tollem. MS.). Some of pondes beþ stremes to water and moyste gardines and leiȝtons [ed. 1535 orcheyardes]. Ibid., XVII. 1. Some tren and herbes groweþ in leyȝtons [ed. 1535 croftes].
1674. Ray, N. C. Words, 30. Liten, a Garden.
17[?]. R. Richardson, in Leland’s Itin. (ed. Hearne, 1745), I. 140. I have met with several British Words that are still in use, such as Laghton for a Garden.
1775. J. Watson, Hist. Halifax, 542. Laighton, a Garden.
Hence † Leightonward, a gardener.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 127/14. Olitor, lectunward.
c. 1275. Passion our Lord, 576, in O. E. Misc., 53. Heo wende hit were þe leyhtunward þat to hire spek.
