The story
- Proto-Germanic · inherited from*leubaz
- Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*leub
- Old English · inherited fromlēof
- Middle English · inherited fromlef
- English todaylief
From Middle English lef, leve, leef, from Old English lēof, from Proto-West Germanic *leub, from Proto-Germanic *leubaz. Cognate with Saterland Frisian ljo, ljoo, ljoof, West Frisian leaf, Dutch lief, German Low German leev, German lieb, Swedish and Norwegian Nynorsk ljuv, Gothic 𐌻𐌹𐌿𐍆𐍃 (liufs), Russian любо́вь (ljubóvʹ), Polish luby. For the adverb, compare German lieber, Dutch liever (“preferably, rather”).
Words from the same roots
Old Englishlēof all →
Lippalderliefest
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.