An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Leinen

by Friedrich Kluge

Leinen, n., ‘linen,’ prop. a neut. adj. used as a subst., MidHG. lînen, lînîn, ‘(of) linen.’ It is based on MidHG. lîn, m., ‘flax, linen, linen garment,’ OHG. and OSax. lîn, n., Goth. lein, n., ‘linen.’ In this case, as in that of Hanf, it is doubtful whether the term (common Teut. lîna-) is cognate with or borrowed from the similarly sounding words in Lat. and Gr. If the Teut. word is really borrowed, the relation of the consonants proves that Hanf was known to the Teutons previous to the permutation of consonants, i.e., long before our era; the same may be said of lîna-, ‘flax,’ since Pliny and Tacitus testify that linen was used among the Teutons when they wrote. Perhaps we may regard Scythian as the source of the cognates, as is indicated by the absence of the word among the Eastern Aryans. Comp. Lat. lînum, Gr. λίνο-ν, OSlov. lĭnŭ, Lith. linaì, ‘flax’; λῖ- was retained in the dat. λῖ-τί, plur. λῖ-τα, hence the root of lînum, λίνον, is lī̆- and no, the suffix. Comp. Leilachen and Leine. —