An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/kleiben

by Friedrich Kluge

kleiben, verb, ‘to stick, glue,’ from Middle High German and Old High German kleiben, ‘to fix firmly, fasten,’ properly ‘to cause to adhere or hold on'; a causative of the verb klîben, obsolete in Modern High German and rarely found even in Middle High German Old High German chlîban, Old Saxon biklîƀan, ‘to cleave, adhere.’ Old Icelandic klífa, ‘to climb,’ proves the connection of Modern High German klimmen (which see) with the root klī̆b, klī̆f, ‘to cleave (to),’ from pre-Teutonic glī̆p (Teutonic f in Swiss χlefe, ‘box on the ear.’