An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/leben

by Friedrich Kluge

leben, verb, ‘to live,’ from the equivalent Middle High German lëben, Old High German lëbên; corresponding to Gothic liban (preterite libaida), Anglo-Saxon libban, English to live, Dutch leven; Scandinavian lifą, ‘to live,’ and also ‘to be remaining.’ This proves the identity of the stem lib, ‘to live,’ with that of bleiben (Gothic bileiban); hence the connection with Greek λΓπαραεῖν, ‘to persist', to which λιπαρής, ‘persistent, industrious,’ is allied, probably also Lithuanian lìpti, ‘to adhere.’ Compare bleiben and Leib.