An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/legen

by Friedrich Kluge

legen, verb, ‘to lay, put,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German lęgen, lęcken, weak verb; properly ‘to cause to lie,’ hence a factitive of liegen. It corresponds to Old Saxon lęggian, Dutch leggen, Anglo-Saxon lęčgan, English to lay, Old Icelandic legja, Gothic lagjan, weak verb, ‘to lay.’ Compare liegen.