lieb

Forms

lieb (strong nominative masculine singular lieber, comparative lieber, superlative am liebsten)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German liep, inherited from Old High German liob, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *leub, inherited from Proto-Germanic *leubaz (“dear, beloved”).^[2][3][1] Kluge takes the Germanic adjective to be passive in sense, “loved”.^[2] The same word is Gothic 𐌻𐌹𐌿𐍆𐍃 (liufs), Old Norse ljúfr, Old English lēof, Old Saxon liof, Old Frisian liāf and Dutch lief, and survives in archaic English lief.^[2][4][3]

It goes back to the root Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ- (“to desire, love”), also found in Old Church Slavonic любъ (ljubŭ, “dear”), Russian любить (ljubítʹ, “to love”), Latin libet (“it pleases”), libīdō (“desire”) and Sanskrit लुभ्यति (lúbhyati, “desires, is greedy”).^[4][5][1] Kluge notes that the Sanskrit verb meant “to go astray, become disordered” before it meant “to desire”, and starts from a sense “to be excited”, which he traces further back to the root of Ancient Greek ἀλύω (alúō, “I wander about, am beside myself”).^[2]

loben, glauben and erlauben belong to the same root in other ablaut grades.^[4][6] The zero grade gave the older words for love, Old English lufu and Old High German luba; the noun Liebe and the verb lieben are later German formations from the adjective.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest record is runic liob on the Weimar brooches from the first half of the 6th century.^[6][2] Old High German liob is found in glosses from the early 9th century and in the Tatian, Otfrid and Notker, meaning “dear, beloved, pleasant, welcome”; the Hildebrandslied has leop.^[6][7][8]

Semantic evolution

The older language used it more broadly for “pleasant, agreeable”: in Minnesangs Frühling a falcon flies swar dir liep ist (“wherever you please”).^[9][4] This survives in es ist mir lieb “I am glad” and in vorlieb nehmen.^[9] Today it refers mainly to affection for a living being, and is transferred from there to things.^[9]

Weakened, it became a formula with certain nouns: der liebe Gott, das liebe Geld, den lieben langen Tag.^[9] Without reference to a particular person it means “lovable”, and of children “good, well-behaved”.^[9][10] The neuter noun Lieb “beloved” is now only poetic, beside the diminutive Liebchen (15th century).^[4][5] The comparative lieber also serves as the comparative of gern.^[5] Liebe took on its present sense in the 15th and 16th centuries and lieben in the 16th, both displacing Minne and minnen.^[4][2]

Timeline

• First half of the 6th century – Runic liob on the Weimar brooches.^[6]
• 8th century – Old High German liob is recorded.^[2]
• 9th century – The abstract noun liubī “love”.^[4]
• 15th century – Liebchen is recorded.^[4]
• 16th century – lieben takes on its present sense.^[4]
• 17th century – Liebling, at first “favourite of a prince”.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Kind, affectionate: viele liebe Grüße;^[10][1] Wie lieb von euch, dass ihr gekommen seid!^[10][1]
2. Lovable, nice: ein lieber Nachbar.^[10][1]
3. Of children and animals: good, well-behaved: Sei lieb zu deiner Schwester!^[10][1]
4. Dear, beloved; also in address: Liebe Kolleginnen und Kollegen.^[10][1] Jemanden lieb haben is to love someone.^[10]
5. Welcome, agreeable: Es wäre mir lieb, wenn ihr leise seid.^[10]

Word family

• Liebe
• lieben
• Lieb
• Liebchen
• Liebling
• lieblich
• liebhaben
• Liebhaber
• liebenswürdig
• liebkosen
• liebäugeln
• vorlieb

Related words

• loben
• glauben
• erlauben
• English lief

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 576
3. ^ a b 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 c Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 512
6. ^ a b c d Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 5, 1330
7. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 203
8. ^ Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch (1952–), founded by Elisabeth Karg-Gasterstädt and Theodor Frings, Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag / De Gruyter; online awb.saw-leipzig.de
9. ^ a b c d e Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
10. ^ a b c d e f g h Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag