An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Los
Los, Loos, neuter, ‘lot, fate, chance,’ from Middle High German and Old High German lôȥ, masculine and neuter, ‘lot, casting lots, drawing a lot, disposal by lottery, division of an inheritance’; compare Gothic hlauts, ‘lot, inheritance,’ Old Icelandic hlaut (hlutr), ‘lot, portion, sacrifice,’ Anglo-Saxon hlŷt and hlot, English lot. To these are allied the strong verbs — Old Icelandic hljóta, Anglo-Saxon hleótan, Old Saxon hliotan, Old High German lioȥan, Middle High German lieȥen, ‘to obtain by lot, acquire.’ This verbal stem in heathen times was probably a sacrificial term (compare Middle High German lieȥen, ‘to predict,’ Old Icelandic hlaut, ‘sacrifice’; also Tacitus, Germania, 10). Old derivatives of this root hlut, which is peculiar to Teutonic, passed also into Romance; compare Italian lotto, ‘lottery urn,’ French lot, ‘share,’ Old French lotir, ‘to cast lots, predict,’ French loterie, ‘lottery.’