An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Glied

by Friedrich Kluge

Glied, neuter, from the equivalent Middle High German gelit(d), neuter and masculine, Old High German gilid, neuter, ‘limb, joint’ (in Middle High German ‘member’ also); likewise in the same sense, mostly without ge-, Middle High German, lit(d), Old High German lid, neuter, neuter; corresponding to Old Saxon lith, Dutch lid (and gelid), Anglo-Saxon lið, Gothic (liþus, ‘limb.’ The common Teutonic stem liþu is ordinarily referred to an Old Teutonic root lī̆þ, ‘to go’ (see leiden, leiten), which is scarcely possible, because Glied cannot originally have been confined to the feet. Besides li- must be the root and -þu-) (for Aryan -tu-) the suffix, on account of the equivalent words formed with the suffix m, Old Icelandic li-mr, ‘limb,’ lim, ‘twig,’ Anglo-Saxon lim, English limb. Also allied perhaps to Lithuanian lëmǔ, ‘stature, growth’ (as well as lělas, ‘tall, slender’?), Compare Bild. —