An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Laub

by Friedrich Kluge

Laub, neuter, ‘foliage,’ from the equivalent Middle High German loup(b), Old High German loub, masculine and neuter; a primitive and common Teutonic term; compare Gothic laufs (plural laubôs), masculine, Anglo-Saxon leáf, neuter, English leaf, Dutch loof. Some connect the word with Lithuanian lápas, ‘leaf,’ which, however, compared with the diphthong of the Teutonic word has an abnormal a (compare Haupt with Latin caput); Greek λέπος, ‘scale, rind,’ is even less akin.