An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Lohn

by Friedrich Kluge

Lohn, masculine, ‘reward, wages,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German lôn, masculine and neuter; a word common to Old Teutonic; compare the equivalent Gothic laun, Old Icelandic laun, Anglo-Saxon leán, Dutch loon, Old Saxon lôn. Since na- is the suffix, we may connect the root lau- with Old Slovenian lovŭ, ‘booty, chase,’ Latin lu-crum, ‘gain,’ Greek ἀπολαύω, ‘to partake of’; others make it cognate with Or. lúag, ‘reward.’