An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/verderben

by Friedrich Kluge

verderben, str. vb., ‘to spoil, destroy, corrupt,’ from MidHG. verdërben, str. vb., ‘to come to nought, perish, die,’ with which the corresponding causative MidHG. verdęrben, ‘to ruin, kill,’ was confused in ModHG. OHG. *dërban, Goth. *þaírban, str. vb., ‘to perish, die,’ is wanting. The meaning of the MidHG. words points to a connection with sterben, so that we must assume a double root, Aryan terbh, sterbh (comp. Stier and Drossel (2) ); in that case neither derb, with its divergent meaning, nor dürfen can be allied. —