An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/klieben

by Friedrich Kluge

klieben, verb, ‘to split,’ from Middle High German klieben, Old High German chlioban, verb, ‘to split, cleave’; corresponding to Old Saxon clioƀan, Anglo-Saxon cleófan, English to cleave. From the correspondence of the other Teutonic dialects we may assume Gothic *klûban, *kliuban, ‘to split.’ Under klauben a verb from the same root klū̆b, by gradation kleub, ‘to work with a sharp instrument,’ has been discussed, to which is allied Greek γλυφ (γλύφω, ‘to hollow out, carve,’ γλύανος, ‘chisel,’ γλύπτης, ‘carver’), perhaps also Latin glûbo, ‘to peel.’ With the Aryan root glū̆bh, by gradation gleubh, Kloben, Kluft, and Kluppe are also connected.