An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Lotse

by Friedrich Kluge

Lotse, masculine, ‘pilot,’ like löschen (2) Modern High German only; borrowed from Low German and Dutch loots, loods, ‘pilot.’ Perhaps the word originated in English in which loadsman, ‘steersman,’ occurs as an old compound of load, Anglo-Saxon lâd, ‘street, way’ (see leiten). With regard to the o in Lotse, see Boot.