An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Lehde

by Friedrich Kluge

Lehde, Lede, feminine, ‘waste land,’ simply Modern High German, from earlier Dutch leeghde, Modern Dutch laagte, ‘low ground, valley,’ through a Low German medium. Allied to the Modern Dutch adjective laag, ‘low,’ to which English low and the equivalent Old Icelandic lágr correspond; in miners' language the adjective appears also in German; läg, ‘sloping, awry,’ from Middle High German lœ̂ge, ‘flat, low.’ The whole class belongs to the stem of liegen.