An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Schlohe

by Friedrich Kluge

Schlohe, feminine, ‘sloe,’ from the equivalent Middle High German slêhe, Old High German slêha, feminine; a common Teutonic term; compare Dutch slee, Anglo-Saxon slâ, slâhaœ, feminine, English sloe, Swedish slån, Danish slaaen, ‘sloe’; Gothic *slaihô, or rather *slaihwô, are by chance not recorded. The cognates are usually connected with Low German slee, ‘blunt’; compare Old High German slêo, Old Saxon slêo (Dutch sleeuw, ‘bitter, harsh’), Anglo-Saxon slâw (English slow), Old Icelandic sljór, slœ́r, ‘blunt,’ hence the literally meaning of Schlehe is perhaps ‘the fruit that makes the teeth blunt.’ Yet the latter terms imply Gothic *slaiwa-, and the former Gothic *slaihô (*slaihwô), the explanation is dubious. So too, for the same reason, is the comparison with Old Slovenian sliva (Lithuanian slýwas), ‘plum,’ for which we should expect a Goth *sláiwô (though Anglo-Saxon slâ points to *sláihô).