An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/geschlacht

by Friedrich Kluge

geschlacht, adj., ‘of good quality, soft, tender, shapely,’ from MidHG. geslaht, OHG. gislaht, ‘well brought up, noble, well behaved’; ungeschlacht, ‘uncouth, unwieldy, boorish,’ even in MidHG. ungeslaht, OHG. ungislaht, ‘ignoble, base.’ Allied to ModHG. Geschlecht, n., ‘species, race, extraction, family,’ from MidHG. geslehte, n., ‘race, tribe, family, quality,’ OHG. gislahti; comp. OHG. slahta, f., ‘race, family,’ MidHG. slahta, ‘manner, relation’; akin also to Schlag (e.g. Menschenschlag, ‘race of men’), not found in OHG. and MidHG. It is difficult to determine the relation of these cognates to schlagen; even in OHG. slahan itself means ‘to take after, resemble’ (e.g. nâh dên fordôrôn slahan, ‘to resemble one's ancestors’), for which in late MidHG. nâch-slahen occurs, ModHG. nachschlagen. Probably the str. vb. in OTeut. once had the meaning ‘to beget,’ which cannot now be authenticated; of this vb. OHG. gislaht, ‘of good quality,’ would be an old partic. in to (see falt, traut, laut), with a development of meaning similar to that of König. Comp. Fr. gentil, equiv. to Lat. gentilis.