An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/leicht

by Friedrich Kluge

leicht, adjective, ‘light’ from the equivalent Middle High German lîht, lîhte, Old High German lîhti; corresponding to Dutch ligt, Anglo-Saxon lîht, leóht, English light, Old Icelandic léttr, Gothic leihts, ‘light.’ The further cognates of the word are uncertain, since there are too many adjectives in the allied languages closely resembling leicht both in sense and sound. Some etymologists derive Latin lĕvis, ‘light,’ from lêvis, lenhvis, in order to connect it with the common Teutonic adjective as well as with Greek ἐλαχύς, ‘petty, small,’ Lithuanian lengwùs, lèngwas, ‘light’; in that case lîht would represent linht, lenht. If leicht be connected with Modern High German gelingen, it might be compared with Greek ᾿ἐλαφρὸς, ‘light, nimble’ (see lungern). No explanation has been hitherto quite satisfactory, since in the non-Teutonic languages there is no adjective corresponding in form to German leicht. — In English lights (see Lunge) is also connected with the adjective light.