An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/leihen

by Friedrich Kluge

leihen, vb., ‘to lend, borrow,’ from MidHG. lîhen, OHG. lîhan, str. vb., ‘to take on credit,’ rarely ‘to give on credit’; so too Goth. leihwan, AS. león (contracted from lîhan), of which only the allied forms loan and to lend have been preserved in E. (comp. Lehen and lehnen). These derivatives, which appear in several dialects, are based on the common Teut. meaning ‘to lend.’ The correspondences in the cognate languages prove that this is only a specialisation of a general sense, ‘to leave,’ The Aryan root lik occurs with the meanings ‘to leave behind, forsake, set free, relinquish’; Sans. ric (for lik), pres. rinácmi, ‘to abandon a thing, give up, set free, empty, clear, give way for a certain sum’; to this are allied rikthám, n., ‘bequest, inheritance,’ reknas, n., ‘property left behind, wealth’ (see Lehen), riktás, adj., and rêku-s, adj., ‘empty’; also Lat. linquo, relinquo, reliquus; Gr. λείπω, with very numerous meanings, ‘to forsake, leave over or behind, omit’; λοιπός, adj., ‘remaining’; OIc. léicim (prim. form leiqó), ‘I leave, relinquish’; Lith. lëku, likti, ‘to leave behind,’ pálaikas, ‘remnant,’ OSlov. otŭ-lěkŭ, ‘remnant, relic.’