An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/eilen

by Friedrich Kluge

eilen, verb, ‘to hasten, hurry,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Middle Low German îlen, Old High German îlen (îllen from îljan); akin to Anglo-Saxon ĭle, Old Frisian ile, Old Icelandic il (genitive iljar), ‘sole of the foot.’ If the l be accepted as a derivative, as it often is in other words, we obtain the widely diffused root ī̆, ‘to go,’ as the source of the cognates; compare Greek ἱέναι Latin ire, Sanscrit root i, ‘to go,’ Old Slovenian iti, Lithuanian eíti, ‘to go.’ See gehen.