An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/laut

by Friedrich Kluge

laut, adj., ‘loud,’ from the equiv. MidHG. and OHG. lût (for an earlier hlût, Goth. *hlûda-); a common Teut. adj. (comp. Du. luid, AS. hlûd, E. loud), which, like falt, alt, tot, gewiß, traut, zart, -haft, kund, satt, wund, was orig. an old partic. in to (Lat. tus, Gr. τος, Ind. tas). The meaning of *klû-dâ-s, pre-Teut. klû-tó-s, from the root klū̆, ‘to hear,’ is lit. ‘audible, heard.’ Another shade of meaning was assumed by the Aryan partic. in the cognate languages — Sans. çrutás, Gr. κλυτός, Lat. inclŭtus, ‘famous.’ In Teut. also there are traces of the short vowel (hlŭda-), especially in proper names, Ludwig, Lothar, Ludolf, Chlothilde, &c. Moreover, the root klū̆ (Gr. κλύω, ‘I hear,’ κλέος, ‘fame’; Ind. çrávas, ‘fame’; OSlov. sluti, ‘to be called,’ slovo for *slevo, ‘word’; Lat. cluo, clueo, ‘to hear oneself called’) is also widely diffused in OTeut.; Goth. hliuma, ‘hearing, ear,’ OIc. hljómr, AS. hleóþor, ‘tone, voice, melody. Comp. lauschen and Leumund.