An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Leib
Leib, masculine, ‘body, waist,’ from Middle High German lîp (b), masculine, ‘life, body, substance’; the meaning ‘life’ has been preserved in Modern High German only in compounds such as Leibzucht, ‘sustenance,’ Leibrente, ‘life-annuity.’ Old High German lîb, masculine and neuter, ‘life,’ Anglo-Saxon lîf, English life; Gothic *leif (b) is wanting (‘life’ is rendered by faírhwus); Scandinavian líf, neuter, ‘body, life.’ The phonetic kinship with Leben may be represented in Greek by λίπ, λῖπ; just as Leben, following Greek λιπαρεῖν, means literally ‘to persist,’ so too Old Teutonic lîba- is literally ‘persistence, continuance’; the meaning ‘body, substance,’ is simply German Greek λείπω cannot on account of Latin linquo be connected with λιπαρέω; it is allied to Teutonic leihen, while λιπαρέω with Leib and Leben are based on an Aryan root lī̆p in bleiben.