Note (return) — Introductory material
Reading edition
It has been surmised that LEDE was connected with the O.N. hlÿt4—which not only signified sors, portio, but res consistentia—and the A.-S. hlet, hlyt, lot, portion, inheritance: thus, in the A.-S. Psal. xxx. 18., on hanðum ðinum hlÿt mín, my heritage is in thy hands. Notker's version is: Mín lôz ist in dínen handen. I have since found that Kindlinger (Geschichte der Deutchen Hörigkeit) has made an attempt to derive it from Lied, Lit, which in Dutch, Flemish, and Low German, still signify a limb; I think, unsuccessfully.