Reise

Forms

Reise f (genitive Reise, plural Reisen)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German reise, inherited from Old High German reisa, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *raisu (“journey”).^[2][3][1] Kluge traces it to Proto-Germanic *raisō (“departure, journey”), a noun of the strong verb Proto-Germanic *rīsaną (“to rise”), which is Gothic 𐌿𐍂𐍂𐌴𐌹𐍃𐌰𐌽 (urreisan, “to arise”), Old Norse rísa, Old English rīsan (English rise), Old Saxon rīsan and rīsan (“to fall”).^[2][3] The verb, lost in early New High German, meant both rising and falling according to its prefixes, and survives in rieseln.^[3][4] A causative of it is Gothic 𐌿𐍂𐍂𐌰𐌹𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (urraisjan, “to raise up”) and Old English rǣran (English rear).^[3] The noun therefore first meant “rising up, setting out, departure”.^[3][5] Kluge and Pfeifer derive the verb from the root Proto-Indo-European *er- (“to rise, set in motion”), as in Latin orior (“to rise”) and Ancient Greek ὄρνυμι (órnumi, “to stir, rouse”);^[2][3][4] Duden connects it with the family of rinnen “to run, flow”.^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German reisa first occurs in Otfrid (863–871), of Christ's entry into Jerusalem on a mount, and in a gloss to Gregory's Dialogues for a ride.^[6][7] Schützeichel gives the senses “procession, entry”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In Middle High German and older New High German the chief sense was a departure for war and the campaign itself, still very common in the 16th century but unknown to Stieler (1691); Otfrid and Middle Low German, however, already use the word for a journey.^[9] The military sense lives on in the Swiss Reislaufen “service as a mercenary abroad” and in reisig “armed, mounted” and Reisiger “mounted soldier”.^[10][3] Luther's Bible still uses reisen for setting out: Denn wenn sie reisen sollen, so solt ihr drometen, “for when they are to set out, you shall sound the trumpets”.^[10] Old Norse reisa, first in a Norwegian charter of 1344, Danish rejse and Swedish resa are borrowed from German, as is Old French raise.^[9][3] Later compounds include Reiselust (Frisch, 1741), Reisepass (1815) and Reisebüro (1893).^[10] Dialectal Polish rajza, recorded in 1913, and Slovene rajža are German loans.^[11] The jargon sense “drug trip” is a loan translation of the English word.^[12]

Timeline

• 863–871 – Otfrid uses reisa of Christ's entry into Jerusalem.^[6][7]
• 1344 – Old Norse reisa, borrowed from German, appears in a Norwegian charter.^[9]
• 16th century – Reise “campaign” is still very common.^[9]
• 1691 – Stieler no longer records the military sense.^[9]
• 1741 – Frisch records Reiselust.^[10]
• 1815 – Reisepass is recorded.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A journey or trip to a distant place: Die Reise nach Lissabon dauerte zwei Tage. auf Reisen sein, to be travelling; euphemistic seine letzte Reise antreten, to die.^[12][1]
2. (jargon) The dreamlike state after taking a drug; a trip.^[12][1]

Word family

• reisen
• Reisebüro
• Reiseführer
• Reiseleiter
• Reiselust
• Reisepass
• Reisetasche
• Weltreise

Related words

• Abreise
• Anreise
• reisig
• rieseln
• verreisen
• Reisiger

Usage notes

The saying Wenn einer eine Reise tut, so kann er was erzählen “whoever makes a journey has something to tell” goes back to Matthias Claudius.^[12] In the salt works of Halle a Reise Sole was the brine drawn up at one time, and in Low German Reise also meant “time, occasion”.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 756
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
4. ^ a b c Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 685
5. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
6. ^ a b Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch (1952–), founded by Elisabeth Karg-Gasterstädt and Theodor Frings, Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag / De Gruyter; online awb.saw-leipzig.de, p. 7, 872
7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
8. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 258
9. ^ a b c d e Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 14, 718
10. ^ a b c d e Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
11. ^ Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
12. ^ a b c d Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
13. ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf