Luft (German)

Where does "Luft" come from?

The German noun 'Luft', meaning air or atmosphere, descends through Middle High German 'luft' and Old High German 'luft'[1]. These forms trace further back to Proto-West Germanic '*luftu' and Proto-Germanic '*luftuz'[1]. The word has numerous Germanic cognates, including Dutch 'lucht', Old English 'lyft', and Icelandic 'loft'[1]. Scholars propose that the Proto-Germanic form derives from Proto-Indo-European '*lubʰ-tu-s', connected to the root '*lewbʰ-' meaning to peel, break off, or damage, which may originally have denoted a roof fashioned from peeled bark[2].

Open questions

The derivation of the Proto-Germanic form from Proto-Indo-European with an original meaning of roof fashioned from peeled bark is a proposed hypothesis. [2]

Full etymology tree

Luft (German), 'air, atmosphere'
- inherited luft (Middle High German)
  - inherited luft (Old High German)
    - inherited *luftu (Proto-West Germanic), 'roof'
      - inherited *luftuz (Proto-Germanic), 'roof'
        derived *lubʰ-tu-s (Proto-Indo-European)
        inherited *lewbʰ- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to desire, covet, want (someone or something)'
        derived *lew- (Proto-Indo-European), 'dirt'

Ancestors

*luftu (Proto-West Germanic)
*luftuz (Proto-Germanic)

Cognates and doublets

luft (Danish)
lucht (Dutch)
loft (Icelandic)
lyft (Old English)
luft (Swedish)

Descendants and derived words

luft (Czech)
luft (English)
Abluft (German)
in die Luft sprengen (German)
Luftabwehr (German)
Luftangriff (German)
Luftaufklärung (German)
Luftballon (German)
Luftblase (German)
Lüfter (German)
Luftfeuchtigkeit (German)
Luftgüte (German)

Sources

Updated August 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris