Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

-less \-less\ (-l[e^]s). [AS. le['a]s loose, false; akin to OS.
   l[=o]s loose, false, D. los loose, loos false, sly, G. los
   loose, Icel. lauss loose, vacant, Goth. laus empty, vain, and
   also to E. loose, lose. [root]127. See {Lose}, and cf.
   {Loose}, {Leasing}.]
   A privative adjective suffix, denoting without, destitute of,
   not having; as witless, childless, fatherless.