An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/verderben

by Friedrich Kluge

verderben, strong verb, ‘to spoil, destroy, corrupt,’ from Middle High German verdërben, strong verb, ‘to come to nought, perish, die,’ with which the corresponding causative Middle High German verdęrben, ‘to ruin, kill,’ was confused in Modern High German Old High German *dërban, Gothic *þaírban, strong verb, ‘to perish, die,’ is wanting. The meaning of the Middle High German words points to a connection with sterben, so that we must assume a double root, Aryan terbh, sterbh (compare Stier and Drossel (2) ); in that case neither derb, with its divergent meaning, nor dürfen can be allied. —