An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Arbeit

by Friedrich Kluge

Arbeit, feminine, ‘work, labour, employment,’ from Middle High German arbeit, arebeit, Old High German ar(a)beit, feminine, ‘labour, toil, distress.’ Corresponding to Old Saxon arƀêdi, neuter, ‘toil, hardship, suffering,’ arbêd, feminine, and Dutch arbeid, masculine, Anglo-Saxon earfoð, earfeðe, neuter, ‘toil, hardship,’ earfeðe, adjective, ‘difficult,’ Gothic arbaiþs(d), feminine, ‘oppression, distress’; Old Icelandic erfiði, neuter, ‘toil,’ erfiðr, adjective, ‘difficult, toilsome.’ Hence ‘toil’ must be accepted as the fundamental meaning of the cognates, and therefore any connection with the stem of Erbe is improbable. It has been compared with greater reason with Old Slovenian (Russian) rabota, feminine, ‘servants' work,’ and rabŭ, robŭ, ‘servant, thrall,’ as primary cognates, although this comparison is open to doubt. Latin lâbor, ‘work,’ is at all events certainly not allied to it.