An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Leber

by Friedrich Kluge

Leber, feminine, ‘liver,’ from the equivalent Middle High German lëber, lëbere, Old High German lëbara, feminine; the ë of the stem is an old i (compare beben and leben); corresponds to Dutch and Middle Low German lever, Anglo-Saxon lifer, English liver, Old Icelandic lifr, feminine. Some have attempted to connected with this common Teutonic word equivalent terms in the non-Teutonic languages — Greek ἥπαρ, Latin jecur, Sanscrit yakṛt, and have assumed two stems, lik and ljē̆k (jêk); in that case the medial labial in Leber would represent an originally guttural as in vier, fünf, elf, Wolf, &c. Equally uncertain is the explanation from the Greek λίπα, ‘fat,’ λιπαρός, ‘sticky, greasy’; nor does it seem probable that Greek λαπάρα, feminine, ‘loins, flanks,’ is allied, because the Old Teutonic word has an old i.