An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/gelingen

by Friedrich Kluge

gelingen, verb, ‘to prove succeesful, from Middle High German gelingen, Old High German gilingan, strong verb, ‘to be successful, proper’; Middle High German also lingen, ‘to proper, advance, get on.’ Allied to Anglo-Saxon lungre, ‘quickly,’ from pre-Teutonic lughró-, to which the equivalent Greek ἐλαφρός also points; the Aryan root lengh (lngh) appears also in Sanscrit lañgh, ram̃h, to spring, get on.’ See leicht.