CLAIM / COUNTERCLAIM / LIMITRECORD 89

DISPUTE
RECORD.

One scholarly question. Every attached source. The present editorial state, without pretending the last word has been written.

resolvedprobable

Did Dutch lief come from English love?

No. Dutch lief is an inherited Germanic adjective cognate with forms including Gothic liufs and German lieb; English love is a separate noun descendant in the same wider family.

WORD UNDER REVIEWDISPUTE 89

lief

/lif/ · adjective · noun

The Dutch adjective for dear, sweet, or kind and its substantivized use for a beloved person, inherited through the Germanic adjective branch.

DIRECT CLAIM EVIDENCE

2 SOURCES WITH A STANCE

A citation is not a vote. Each record says whether the work supports, challenges, contradicts, or contextualizes the position—and identifies the exact locus used.

SOURCE 01supportsscholarly dictionary

Franck’s Etymologisch Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal — liefhebben, liefde, lief

Lists Dutch lief with Gothic liufs, German lieb, and other inherited adjective reflexes.

pp. 384–385, Germanic comparison under liefhebben and liefde

AUTHOR / EDITOR: N. van Wijk, after Johannes Franck
YEAR: 1912
PUBLISHER: Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal digital edition

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SOURCE 02contextscholarly dictionary

Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic

Separates the adjective and noun formations within the wider Germanic family.

s.v. *leubaz and *lubō

AUTHOR / EDITOR: Guus Kroonen
YEAR: 2013
PUBLISHER: Brill

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02 / EDITORIAL STATE

THE CURRENT RECORD IS RESOLVED.

CONFIDENCE: probable
STATUS: resolved
LEGACY SOURCE SUMMARY: Franck’s dictionary compares the Germanic adjective reflexes, and Kroonen supplies the reconstructed family.

RESOLUTION NOTE

The graph treats lief and love as cousins, not parent and child.

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