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Gericht

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German has two neuter nouns Gericht: the court of law, from the family of recht, and the dish of food, from richten “to prepare”.[1][2] Kluge numbers the court first, while Duden's etymological dictionary numbers them the other way round.[1][2]

Gericht1 court

Pronunciation

  • /ɡəˈʁɪçt/[3]

Forms

Gericht n (genitive Gerichtes or Gerichts, plural Gerichte)[3]

Etymology

The court is inherited from Middle High German geriht, inherited from Old High German girihti (“judgement, rule, statute”), inherited from Proto-Germanic *garihtiją (“justness, justice”).[1][4][3] Kluge explains it as an abstract noun of gerecht in its concrete sense “straight, correct”, so first roughly “a setting right”, already used for “court, judgement” in Old High German.[1] The EWA describes it as formed from the adjective Old High German reht with the collective prefix gi-.[5] Pfeifer and Duden add that the noun was early attached to the verb richten, which already meant “to judge” in Old High German.[4][2]

The same word is Middle Low German gerichte and Middle Dutch gherechte, continued in Dutch gericht.[1][4] Related formations are Old English gerihte (“right, duty, straight direction”) and, with another suffix, Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌷𐍄𐌴𐌹 (garaihtei, “righteousness”).[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German girihti appears in Notker about 1000 and in glosses, meaning “judgement, just verdict, rule, guideline, statute, decree”.[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

In Middle High German geriht covered the court, the exercise of the judge's office, the verdict and its execution, the jurisdiction and the court district, and also “government”.[4][7] Paul traces the uses of the modern word: the act of judging (Luther's darin man gericht hielt “where judgement was held”, 1 Kings 7:7), the Last Judgement, das Jüngste Gericht, the court as an authority, the body of judges and, as Adelung records in 1775, the court building.[8]

Derivatives followed: gerichtlich in the 15th century, Gerichtsbarkeit in the 16th, Gerichtshof in the first half of the 18th century as a German word for French cour, and Gerichtsvollzieher in the German Code of Civil Procedure of 1877.[4][8][2] Czech borrowed the word as grichta “judicial power”.[9]

Timeline

  • 10th century – Old High German girihti in glosses.[6]
  • c. 1000 – girihti “judgement” in Notker.[4]
  • 1077–1081 – Middle High German gerihte in the Annolied.[7]
  • 15th century – First record of gerichtlich.[4][2]
  • 1531 – First record of Gerichtsbarkeit.[8]
  • First half of the 18th century – Gerichtshof renders French cour (de justice).[4]
  • 1775 – Adelung records Gericht for the court building.[8]
  • 1877 – Gerichtsvollzieher is introduced by the Code of Civil Procedure.[4][8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A court of law, the public institution that administers justice.[10][3]
  2. The bench of judges hearing a case.[10]
  3. The court building.[10]
  4. The act of judging, judgement: das Jüngste Gericht “the Last Judgement”;[10][3] mit jemandem ins Gericht gehen “to take someone sharply to task”.[10][3]
  5. A trial, court hearing.[10]

Word family

  • gerichtlich
  • Gerichtsbarkeit
  • Gerichtshof
  • Gerichtsvollzieher

Gericht2 dish

Pronunciation

  • /ɡəˈʁɪçt/[3]

Forms

Gericht n (genitive Gerichtes or Gerichts, plural Gerichte)[3]

Etymology

The dish is inherited from Middle High German geriht, inherited from Old High German girihti (“prepared dish”), a verbal noun of richten in its sense “to prepare, dish up”.[1][5][2][3] The same word is Middle Low German gerichte and Middle Dutch gherechte, continued in Dutch gerecht.[1] The verb is a factitive of recht, from Proto-Germanic *rehtaz (“right, straight”).[11][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German girihti “prepared dish” is recorded only once, in a gloss of the 12th or 13th century translating Latin ferculum.[5] Middle High German geriht also meant “household goods, furnishings”.[5]

Semantic evolution

Paul dates the sense “prepared meal” to Middle High German, following anrichten “to dish up”.[8] The word named a single dish of a meal: a vocabulary of 1482 glosses it with Latin ferculum, and Luther's Bible has Esau ask las mich kosten das rote gericht “let me taste the red dish” (Genesis 25:29).[12] In Early New High German it could also mean a device or frame, and a payment in kind.[13] Slovene borrowed it as rihta “dish”.[9]

Timeline

  • 12th–13th century – Old High German girihti glosses Latin ferculum.[5]
  • 13th century – Middle High German geriht(e) “dish”.[1]
  • 1482 – A German–Latin vocabulary glosses gerichte with ferculum.[12]
  • 1544 – A Leipzig town ordinance limits an innkeeper's meal to five dishes with the cheese.[12]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A dish, a prepared food served as part of a meal: Zum Abschluss gab es ein Gericht aus Linsen.[3][14]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 350
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  5. ^ a b c d e f Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 4, 374
  6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  8. ^ a b c d e f Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  9. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
  10. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  11. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 766
  12. ^ a b c Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 5, 3635
  13. ^ Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
  14. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org