lightning
‘a flash of white light in the sky; discharge of electricity between clouds’
Lexical development traced from the Tamil root:
E. light'ning, liteninge, lightening, lyghtelyng, leihtnyng, leyȝtenyng, liȝtninge, litynnynge < O.E. lightnen ‘make bright’ < lihting < leht (A.), leoht (We.S.) ‘light, daylight; spiritual illumination’ < Proto-G. leukhtam < lai < leuk- < Tamil el