An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/lüpfen
lüpfen, ‘to set free and then raise aloft,’ an Upper German verb, from the equivalent Middle High German lüpfen, lupfen. Since the word is not found in other languages (Gothic *luppjan?), its origin cannot be discovered; perhaps it is connected with the cognates of Läufel. In Modern High German a modern verb, lüften (allied to Luft), ‘to lift,’ has supplanted the cognate phonetic form lüpfen.