An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/lind

by Friedrich Kluge

lind, gelinde, adjective, ‘gentle,’ from Middle High German linde, Old High German lindi, adjective, ‘soft, gentle, tender, mild’ (Gothic *linþs is wanting); corresponding to Old Saxon lîthi, Anglo-Saxon lîþe, ‘mild, friendly, soft,’ English lithe. In Scandinavian an exact correspondence is not found; the term used is linr, ‘friendly, mild, soft’ (whence Lappish lines is borrowed), which with Bavarian len, ‘soft,’ Dutch lenig, ‘pliant,’ points to the fact that the dental of the German and English words is a suffix. Hence lin- is the root from which are formed in Old Teutonic Gothic af-linnan, ‘to go away, yield,’ Old Icelandic linna, ‘to cease,’ Anglo-Saxon linnan, ‘to cease, part from, lose,’ Old High German bilinnan, ‘to relax, leave off.’ Therefore the Teutonic root meant originally ‘yielding disposition.’ Compare Old Slovenian lěnŭ, ‘lazy,’ Latin lên-i-s, ‘gentle, mild,’ and lentus, ‘flexible, pliant.’