An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/lahm

by Friedrich Kluge

lahm, adjective, ‘lame,’ from Middle High German and Old High German lam (genitive lames), ‘weak in the limbs, lame.’ The more general meaning, ‘weak in the limbs,’ is the originally one, since an adjective with a different gradation belonging to the same stem — Old High German luomi, MidHigh German lüeme — signifies ‘wearied, relaxed,’ and even ‘gentle.’ Yet Old Icelandic lame, Anglo-Saxon lama, English lame, Old Saxon lamo, and Dutch lam, ‘lame,’ show that the prevalent Modern High German meaning is primitive (in Gothic halts, Anglo-Saxon halt, equivalent to Latin claudus, Sanscrit khoḍa). An old lama-, ‘weak, infirm’ (from which Provençal lam is borrowed), suggests Old Slovenian lomlją (lomiti), ‘to break’ (root lam); Russian lomóta, ‘rheumatic pains.’ Compare also Scandinavian lemja, ‘to lame, disable.’