Etymologically
Log in

leiten

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 19:21. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • /ˈlaɪ̯tən/, [ˈlaɪ̯tn̩][1]

Forms

leiten (third-person singular present leitet, past tense leitete, past participle geleitet, auxiliary haben)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German leiten, inherited from Old High German leiten, also leitōn, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *laidijan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *laidijaną (“to cause to go, lead”).[2][1][3] The same verb is Old Saxon lēdian, Old Norse leiða, Old English lǣdan and Old Frisian lēda, and today Dutch leiden, English lead, Swedish leda and Icelandic leiða.[2][4][3][5] It is not recorded in Gothic.[6]

It is the causative of Proto-Germanic *līþaną (“to go, pass”), the verb that became leiden, and so properly meant “to make go”.[2][4][3][5] Kroonen reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *loit-éie-, with the o-grade typical of causatives, the same grade as in leið and lād (“way, journey”).[3][4] Köbler gives the root as Proto-Indo-European *leit- (“to go, go away”).[7] The Grimms' dictionary noted that the different dental consonants of the causative and its base verb were unexplained.[6] Lotse belongs to the same family.[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German leiten is recorded from the 8th century, first in glosses of about 765, then in the Tatian, Otfrid, Notker, the Muspilli and other texts.[2][7][8] It meant “to lead, guide, bring, accompany, carry”, and in phrases den tag leiten “to spend the day”, lîb leiten “to lead a life” and quena leiten “to take a wife home, marry”.[8][9]

Semantic evolution

Paul hears the original sense “to make go” in uses with an expression of place, and in geleiten.[10] From it came “to direct, be in charge of”, as of an institute or a company, and in the 19th century technical German used it of energy passing through a material: copper leitet.[10][4] Leitung “guidance, management” is from the 16th century, and its sense “wires, cable” from the 19th.[4]

Leitartikel “editorial” (1848) is a loan translation of English leading article, after Hauptartikel (1837) and Gutzkow's leitender Artikel (1839).[10][4] Leitfaden (1741, Kant 1747) was modelled on Ariadne's thread, and Leithammel, the bellwether, recorded by Alberus in 1540, became a scornful word for a leader whom the crowd follows blindly at the end of the 18th century.[10][4] Leitmotiv was taken into English in 1876, and Leitkultur, a disputed slogan of 2000, into Modern Hebrew.[11][10]

Timeline

  • c. 765 – Old High German leiten appears in glosses.[7]
  • 9th century – leitāri “leader” is recorded.[4]
  • 1540 – Alberus records Leithammel.[10]
  • 16th century – Leitung appears.[4]
  • 1741 – Leit-Faden is first recorded;[10] Kant writes Leitfaden in 1747.[10]
  • 1848 – Leitartikel is first recorded.[10]
  • 1876 – leitmotiv is first recorded in English.[11]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To lead, be in charge of, manage: eine Schule leiten, ein Spiel leiten “to referee a match”.[12][1]
  2. To guide or accompany someone somewhere: die Gäste in den Saal leiten.[12]
  3. To guide by influence: sich von Gefühlen leiten lassen.[12]
  4. To direct along a route: Wasser durch Rohre leiten, den Verkehr umleiten.[12][13]
  5. (physics) To conduct heat, electricity or sound.[12][1]

Word family

  • geleiten
  • Geleit
  • anleiten
  • ableiten
  • einleiten
  • herleiten
  • umleiten
  • verleiten
  • weiterleiten
  • Leiter
  • Leiterin
  • Leitung
  • Leitartikel
  • Leitfaden
  • Leithammel
  • Leitstern
  • leiden
  • Lotse
  • English lead

Usage notes

Etwas in die Wege leiten “to set something in motion” is recorded from 1936.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 571
  3. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  5. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 12, 728
  7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  8. ^ a b Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 5, 1153
  9. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 196
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  11. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
  12. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  13. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org