An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Leinen
Leinen, neuter, ‘linen,’ properly a neuter adjective used as a substantive, Middle High German lînen, lînîn, ‘(of) linen.’ It is based on Middle High German lîn, masculine, ‘flax, linen, linen garment,’ Old High German and Old Saxon lîn, neuter, Gothic lein, neuter, ‘linen.’ In this case, as in that of Hanf, it is doubtful whether the term (common Teutonic lîna-) is cognate with or borrowed from the similarly sounding words in Latin and Greek. If the Teutonic word is really borrowed, the relation of the consonants proves that Hanf was known to the Teutons previous to the permutation of consonants, i.e., long before our era; the same may be said of lîna-, ‘flax,’ since Pliny and Tacitus testify that linen was used among the Teutons when they wrote. Perhaps we may regard Scythian as the source of the cognates, as is indicated by the absence of the word among the Eastern Aryans. Compare Latin lînum, Greek λίνο-ν, Old Slovenian lĭnŭ, Lithuanian linaì, ‘flax’; λῖ- was retained in the dative λῖ-τί, plural λῖ-τα, hence the root of lînum, λίνον, is lī̆- and no, the suffix. Compare Leilachen and Leine. —