Are Latin "laevus" (left-hand side), Croatian "lijevo" (leftwards), and English "left" (in the sense "side") related?

Question

Are Latin "laevus" (left-hand side), Croatian "lijevo" (leftwards), and English "left" (in the sense "side") related? They definitely look like they could be related, but this Reddit comment claims they are not.

Answer 1

Laevus and lijevo are, but "left" is not. The first two come from PIE *leh₂-i-wos, from *leh₂- "be hidden" (compare lateō and λανθάνω). The latter probably comes from PIE *lewp- "break, separate" (compare лупить "thrash"), though this is harder to be sure of because there are fewer attested cognates. But in general, it's very uncommon for English F to correspond to Latin V; English F generally comes from PIE *p.