An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Leid
Leid, neuter, ‘harm, hurt, sorrow,’ from Middle High German leit (d), neuter, ‘affliction, pain, evil’ (as adjective ‘afflicting’), Old High German leid, neuter, ‘that which causes affliction; harm, pain’ (leid, adjective, ‘afflicting, repugnant, hateful’). Compare Anglo-Saxon lâþ, ‘offence, wrong, hostile, hateful, inimical’; English loath, adjective, to loathe, Old Icelandic leiþr, ‘hostile, hateful.’ Probably the abstract substantive is originally nothing more than the neuter of the adjective, which passed into Romance at a very early period (compare Italian laido, ‘ugly,’ French laid). See further under leiden and leider.