An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Last

by Friedrich Kluge

Last, feminine (Upper German masculine), from the equivalent Middle High German and Middle Low German last, feminine and masculine, ‘burden,’ Old High German last (earlier hlast); allied to laden Gothic hlaþan); the st is a suffix before which the final dental of the verbal stem hlaþ necessarily disappeared, Anglo-Saxon hlœst, neuter English last. In Scandinavian an old to- participle assumed the meaning ‘waggon-load,’ hlass, neuter (for *hlaþto-). The German word passed into Romance (French lest, masculine, ‘ballast,’ laste, masculine, Italian lasto, ‘load of shipping’). For further references compare laden.