An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/schleifen

by Friedrich Kluge

schleifen, verb, ‘to slide, sharpen, whet,’ from Middle High German slîfen, ‘to glide, sink, grind a weapon,’ &c. (properly ‘to sharpen by letting it slide’), Old High German slîfan, ‘to glide, sink, smooth’; compare Dutch slijpen, ‘to sharpen,’ Anglo-Saxon tô-slîpan, ‘to dissolve,’ to which are allied English to slip, and slippers (Italian schippire, ‘to escape’). How the Teutonic root slī̆p, ‘to glide, slip,’ is connected with the equivalent root slū̆p, discussed under the preceding word, and further also with schleichen (root slī̆k), has not yet been ascertained. The corresponding factitive schleichen, verb, ‘to trail,’ from Middle High German and Old High German sleifen, literally ‘to cause to slide along,’ hence ‘to drag along, trail,’ even late Middle High German eine burc sleifen, ‘to raze a city’; compare Low German and Dutch slepen, ‘to drag along the ground, trail,’ whence Modern High German schleppen is borrowed. See Schiff.