An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Lied

by Friedrich Kluge

Lied, neuter, from the equivalent Middle High German liet(d), Old High German liod, neuter, ‘song’ (Gothic *liuþ, neuter, may be inferred from liuþareis, masculine, ‘singer,’ and liuþân, ‘to sing praises’); compare Dutch lied, Anglo-Saxon leóþ, neuter, ‘song.’ The Teutonic term for poetical productions, such as existed far earlier than the time of Tacitus (compare “carmina antiqua,” Germania, 2). Poetry flourished long before the adoption of the letters of the runic alphabet, which was derived from the Latin.