An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/lernen

by Friedrich Kluge

lernen, verb, from the equivalent Middle High German lërnen, ‘to learn’ (more rarely ‘to teach’), Old High German lirnên, lërnên, ‘to learn’; compare Anglo-Saxon leornian, English to learn, Old Saxon lînon for Gothic *liznan (preterite *liznôda); an Old Teutonic derivative of the participle of the Gothic strong verb lais, ‘I know,’ discussed under Lehre and lehren; hence lernen means ‘to become experienced, informed.’ The cognates of the stem lis fall into two classes; to one belongs the sensuous notion ‘to go’ (compare Leisten, Leiste, Gleise, and leise), the other comprises the words Lehre, lehren, and Gothic leis, ‘knowing.’