Old German is maybe too short to take the lead in Griselda (9)
I believe the answer is:
ostrogoth
'old german' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'maybe too short to take the lead in griselda' is the wordplay.
'maybe' indicates anagramming the letters.
'to take' is an insertion indicator.
'the lead in' suggests taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'griselda' is 'g'.
'too'+'short'='tooshort'
'tooshort' with letters rearranged gives 'ostrooth'.
'ostrooth' enclosing 'g' is 'OSTROGOTH'.
'is' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for ostrogoth that I've seen before include "One of fifth century and sixth century conquerors of Italy" , "An old fighting" , "German invader" , "Barbarian" , "Old German" .)