An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/leck
leck, adjective, ‘leaky,’ Modern High German only, a Low German form for an earlier and strictly High German lech, for, according to the words quoted under lechzen, the Gothic root is lik (hlik?), and this adjective corresponds to the Old Icelandic adjective lekr, ‘leaky,’ whose k would be represented in High German by ch. The borrowing of the Modern High German word from Low German is explained by the fact that a great number of nautical expressions in Modern High German are of Low German origin; the High German form lech is also found in the dialects Middle High German lęcken, verb, ‘to moisten’ (lęcke, feminine, ‘moistening’), has ck for earlier kj, as is shown by Anglo-Saxon lęččean, ‘to moisten’ (from lakjan). Both verbs prove that ‘to be watery’ is the primary meaning of the Teutonic stem lek (by gradation lak). Modern High German lecken, ‘to leak,’ is no more connected with Middle High German lęcken, ‘to moisten,’ than it is with Modern High German lecken, ‘to lick’; it is a derivative of the adjective leck, and hence has the variant lechen.