An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Land

by Friedrich Kluge

Land, neuter, ‘land, country,’ from the equivalent Middle High German lant (d), Old High German lant (t), neuter; a common Teutonic word; compare Gothic land, ‘district, estate, native country,’ Old Icelandic, Anglo-Saxon, English, Dutch, and Old Saxon land, ‘country, land.’ To these are primary allied Irish land, lann, Welsh llan, Corn lan (from the primitive form *landhâ), ‘open space, area, small enclosure, yard,’ Breton lan, ‘heath,’ as well as Old Slovenian lędina, ‘heath, uncultivated land’ (Russian ljada, ljadina), with which Swedish dialectic linda, ‘fallow field,’ agrees in the vowel sounds. Hence Land is native to the North of Europe, while Acker has a far wider diffusion. The Romance cognates, Italian landa and French lande, ‘heath, plain,’ are derived from Keltic rather than from Teutonic.