An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/lecken

by Friedrich Kluge

lecken (1.), verb, ‘to lick,’ from the equivalent Middle High German lëcken, Old High German lëcchôn (for Gothic *likkôn). It corresponds to Dutch likken, Anglo-Saxon liccian, English to lick. The verb likkôn, ‘to lick,’ common to English and German, is related to Gothic laigôn, apart from the gradation, as High German Ziege (Gothic *tigô) is to Zicklein (Gothic *tikkein), or as Hut (Gothic *hôda-) is to Anglo-Saxon hœtt (Gothic *hattu-). Gothic *likkôn, ‘to lick,’ is also authenticated by the equivalent Romance cognates borrowed from it, Italian leccare, French lécher. A Teutonic root slikk seems to be preserved in Modern High German schlecken, Old Icelandic sleikja, ‘to lick.’ Gothic *laigôn is based on an Aryan root lī̆gh, leigh, loigh; Greek λείχω, ‘to lick,’ λιχνεύω, ‘to lick, taste by stealth,’ λίχνος, ‘glutton, dainty’; Sanscrit rih, lih, ‘to lick’; Old Slovenian ližą (liżati), and Lithuanian lëżiù (lêżti), ‘to lick’; Latin lingo, ‘to lick,’ and allied to this perhaps Latin lingua (Lithuanian lëżùvis), ‘tongue’; Old Irish ligim, ‘to lick.’

lecken (2.), löcken, verb, ‘to kick, hop,’ from the equivalent Middle High German lęcken, weak verb, in Gothic perhaps *lakjan, which may be connected with Greek λάξ, adverb λάγιδην, ‘with the foot.’ Its kinship with Gothic laikan, ‘to spring, hop,’ is improbable.