lehren (German)

Where does "lehren" come from?

The German verb 'lehren', meaning 'to teach', descends directly through Middle High German 'lēren' and Old High German 'lēren'[1]. These forms trace back to Proto-West Germanic '*laiʀijan'[1][2][5] and ultimately Proto-Germanic '*laizijaną'[1][4]. Linguistically, this was built as a causative verb from '*lizaną' alongside the suffix '*-janą'[1][4], extending the ancient Proto-Indo-European root '*leys-', which denoted a 'track, furrow, trace, trail'[1][3][4]. Cognates across the Germanic languages include Dutch 'leren', Danish 'lære', and archaic English 'lear'.

Open questions

• The exact relationship between the Proto-Germanic verb '*laizijaną' and the noun '*laizō' varies across accounts, with some treating the verb as derived from the noun and others deriving the noun from the verb. [1] [2] [4] [6]
• The underlying Proto-Germanic and Proto-Indo-European forms, including '*laizijaną' and the root '*leys-', are unrecorded and based entirely on historical linguistic reconstruction. [1] [3] [4] [6]

Full etymology tree

• lehren (German), 'to teach (a class, a subject); to be a teacher'
  • inherited lēren (Middle High German)
    • inherited leren (Old High German), 'to teach'
      • inherited *laiʀijan (Proto-West Germanic), 'to teach'
        • inherited *laizijaną (Proto-Germanic), 'to teach'
          • affix *lizaną (Proto-Germanic), 'to know, to be familiar with, to understand'
          • suffix *-janą (Proto-Germanic), 'Derives causatives from basic strong verbs, with a sense of 'cause to do (the action of the verb)'. The stem vowel of the derived verb becomes that of the singular past tense, and the final consonant becomes the voiced Verner alternant.'
          • derived *(le-)lóys-e (Proto-Indo-European)
            • derived *leys- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to trace, to track'

Ancestors

• leren (Old High German)
• *laiʀijan (Proto-West Germanic)
• *laizijaną (Proto-Germanic)
• *lizaną (Proto-Germanic)
• *-janą (Proto-Germanic)

Cognates and doublets

• leer (Afrikaans)
• lære (Danish)
• leren (Dutch)
• lear (English)
• lära (Swedish)

Descendants and derived words

• Lehre (German)
• Lehrbuch (German)
• Lehrer (German)
• Lehrwerk (German)

Sources

1. lehren (German) - Wiktionary
2. leren (Old High German) - Wiktionary
3. lizaną (Proto-Germanic) - Wiktionary
4. laizijaną (Proto-Germanic) - Wiktionary
5. laiʀijan (Proto-West Germanic) - Wiktionary
6. laizō (Proto-Germanic) - Wiktionary

Updated October 2026

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