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THE GRAPH.
Find a modern word—or search sideways through reconstructed roots, historical forms, meanings, languages, scholars, sources, claims, disputes, and witnesses.
012
MODERN ENTRY POINTS
WORD DOSSIERS
adjective · nounexact headword
lief
The Dutch adjective for dear, sweet, or kind and its substantivized use for a beloved person, inherited through the Germanic adjective branch.
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗adjectivedossier summary
lieb
The German adjective for dear, beloved, kind, or welcome, inherited through Middle High German liep and Old High German liob from the Germanic adjective branch also represented by Dutch lief and Gothic liufs.
OPEN THE FULL LINEAGE ↗022
ATTESTED / RECONSTRUCTED / BOUNDARY
HISTORICAL FORMS
032
WHERE INTERPRETATION IS TESTED
CLAIMS & DISPUTES
SCHOLARLY DISPUTES / 1
resolvedprobableexact word
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.
CONTRARIAN TRUTHS / 1
RANK 199GRADE A-exact ranked word
Dutch lief is love’s adjective cousin, not its child.
Dutch lief belongs with Gothic liufs and German lieb in the inherited dear-or-beloved adjective branch. English love is a separate noun route in the same deeper family.
043
BOOKS / DICTIONARIES / ARTICLES / DATABASES
SOURCES
historical dictionary1 CLAIM LINKS
lief — Algemeen Nederlands Woordenboek
Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal editors / 2026
title prefixAUDIT EVERY USE ↗scholarly dictionary8 CLAIM LINKS
Franck’s Etymologisch Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal — liefhebben, liefde, lief
N. van Wijk, after Johannes Franck / 1912
source titleAUDIT EVERY USE ↗historical dictionary1 CLAIM LINKS
smeken — Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek
Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal editors / 2000
source titleAUDIT EVERY USE ↗053
FIRST USES & HISTORICAL OBJECTS
ATTESTATION WITNESSES
SOURCE REPORTEDlexical corpus record
Lutgart A, as reported by the Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek
lief / lief / 1276–1300
smeken — Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboekexact attested form / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexical corpus record
Liège Diatessaron, friend-enemy contrast
viant / vient / vijand / 1291–1300
Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek — VIANT Iwitness excerpt / OPEN RECORD ↗SOURCE REPORTEDlexical corpus record
Old High German Tatian, weeds parable
fīant / fīant / ninth-century Old High German Tatian; edited text
Tatian: Lateinisch und altdeutsch mit ausführlichem Glossar, 2nd ed. — section 72, p. 96witness excerpt / OPEN RECORD ↗06
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