An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Leichnam

by Friedrich Kluge

Leichnam, m., ‘dead body, corpse,’ from MidHG. lîchname, OHG. lîhhinamo, m., ‘body, substance, corpse’; OHG. lîhhinamo for *lihhin-hamo is based on a wk. form *lîkan-, *lîkin- (comp. Goth. manleika, ‘image’); at all events, OHG. lîhhin-amo is not a corruption of OTeut. lîkhamo, m., ‘body’; OHG. lîhhamo (by syncope lîhmo), MidHG. lîchame, m., AS. lîc-hǫma, OIc. líkamr (líkame), m., ‘body.’ The second component is an obsolete noun (ham, hamo), meaning ‘form, covering’; comp. OIc. hamr, ‘skin, shape,’ AS. homa, ‘covering’; Goth. anahamôn, gahamôn, ‘to put on (clothes), dress’ (comp. Hamen, hämisch, and Hemd). Therefore Leichnam probably signified orig. ‘body,’ lit. ‘covering or form of flesh,’ i.e. ‘body of flesh, in so far as it is endowed with life.’ The compound has a rather poetical air about it, and in fact Scand. and AS. poetry coined many similar circumlocutions for ‘body.’ In AS. poetry comp. flœ̂sc-homa, ‘flesh-covering,’ also bân-fœt, lit. ‘bone-vessel,’ bânhûs, lit. ‘bone-house,’ bânloca, lit. ‘bone-cage,’ bâncofa, lit. ‘bone-dwelling,’ as synonyms of AS. lîc-homa, ‘body.’ Hence it is quite possible that OTeut. lîk-hamo was adopted from poetry in ordinary prose.