An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/lauschen

by Friedrich Kluge

lauschen, vb., from the equiv. MidHG. (rare) and MidLG. lûschen, wk. vb., ‘to listen, lurk’; the meaning points to the oft-recurring OTeut. stem hlū̆s, ‘to hear,’ so that *hlûskan for *hlûs-skai-, with a derivative sk-, may be assumed. Comp. OHG. hlosên, MidHG. losen, ‘to listen to, hearken,’ OIc. hlus-t, ‘ear.’ Eng. has preserved the cognates in AS. hlyst, f., ‘hearing,’ hlystan, ‘to listen or hearken to,’ E. to list, listen; OHG. lûs-trên, MidHG. lū̆stren, Suab. and Bav. laustern, ‘to hearken,’ MidHG. lusemen, lüsenen, ‘to hearken.’ The OTeut. verbal stem hlus, authenticated by this group, from pre-Teut. klus, has cognate terms in Ind. and Slav.; Ind. crušṭís, f., ‘hearing, obedience’; OSlov. slyšati, ‘to hear,’ sluchŭ, m., ‘hearing,’ Lith. klausà, f., ‘obedience,’ paklùsti, ‘to obey,’ klausýti, ‘to hear.’ To this root klus, ‘to hear,’ a shortened form klu is allied; comp. laut and Leumund. ModHG. lauschen also seems to be connected in a subsidiary manner with MidHG. lôschen, OHG. lôscên, ‘to be hidden, concealed.’ Comp. MidDu. luuschen, ‘to be concealed,’ allied to the equiv. OHG. lûȥȥên (Bav. laußen, ‘to lie in ambush,’ still exists).