An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/link

by Friedrich Kluge

link, adjective, ‘left,’ from the equivalent Middle High German linc, adjective, with the variant lęnc (genitive -kes); the form with sl is probably quite as old as that with initial l (compare drosseln, Stier, Hocken, and lecken). In Old High German only lęncha, feminine, ‘left hand,’ is recorded; the adjective is rendered by winistar, Middle High German winster, in Bavarian lërz, lërc, and tenk, Lower Rhenish slinc (this is doubtless a primitive variant of link, as is shown by the analogies under drosseln, Stier, Hocken, and lecken); in English left (Anglo-Saxon *lyfte? Dutch lucht). In the Old Teutonic dialects there are no other correspondences of link; perhaps Modern High German lenken is allied to this word with the primary meaning ‘oblique, awry’; lenken signifies literally ‘to direct obliquely.’ Schlimm may also be a cognate.