An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Pflicht

by Friedrich Kluge

Pflicht, feminine, ‘obligation, duty, allegiance,’ from Middle High German and Old High German pfliht, feminine, ‘friendly care, nursing, intercourse, sympathy, service, obligation’; a verbal abstract from pflegen; allied to Anglo-Saxon pliht, ‘danger,’ English plight, as well as Anglo-Saxon pleón, ‘to risk,’ and pleóh, ‘danger’.