An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/laben

by Friedrich Kluge

laben, verb, ‘to refresh,’ from Middle High German laben, Old High German labôn (compare Anglo-Saxon gelafian), ‘to wash, quicken, refresh.’ If we take into consideration Tacitus' account of the fondness of the Teutons for bathing, we can readily conceive how the meaning ‘to refresh’ was evolved from ‘to wash’; the reverse course is also possible, as is shown perhaps by Modern High German sich erfrischen, sich stärken, in the sense of ‘to drink,’ The former is the more probable, on account of Middle High German lap (b), ‘bilge water’; there is, however, no connection with Latin lavare, Greek λούειν. —