Rennen

Forms

Rennen n (genitive Rennens, plural Rennen)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German rennen (“running; tournament”), the verb rennen used as a noun.^[2][3][4][1] The verb goes back to Old High German rennen (“to make run or flow”), from Proto-Germanic *rannijaną (“to cause to run”), the causative of the verb continued in rinnen, Proto-Germanic *rinnaną (“to run, flow”).^[5][4][6] The same causative is found in Gothic 𐌿𐍂𐍂𐌰𐌽𐌽𐌾𐌰𐌽 (urrannjan, “to make rise”), Old Norse renna, Old English ærnan (with metathesis of /r/) and Old Saxon rennian.^[5][4][7]

At first the verb meant to set something in motion, drive or chase; in Middle High German, with its object (a horse) left out, it came to be used without one, meaning “to run fast” or “to ride fast”.^[4][7][8] Wiktionary adds that the causative and the intransitive verb have merged, as in Dutch rennen and English run.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Middle High German rennen as a noun is recorded from about 1272 in Jans der Enikel's chronicle, meaning a race, a tournament, a raid or a chase.^[2] Lexer gives it as the running and the tournament, with the pairing of rennen and jostieren “jousting”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Early New High German rennen was above all a charge or attack, on foot or on horseback, and a discipline of the tournament fought on horseback with sharp weapons, often paired with stechen, the joust with blunted lances; it only rarely meant a horse race.^[9][10] The Grimms' dictionary quotes chronicles of the 16th century in which a king arranges a rennen unnd thurnieren and two riders unhorse each other in the first rennen.^[10] Pfeifer dates the sense “sporting contest in running, riding or driving” from the 15th century, after older “tournament, hunt, chase”.^[4][11] With modern sport the noun and its compounds (Pferderennen, Autorennen, Radrennen) came to name races of every kind.^[8][1]

Timeline

• 10th century – Old High German rennen “to drive, make run” appears in glosses.^[5][6]
• c. 1272 – Middle High German rennen as a noun, in Jans der Enikel.^[2]
• 15th century – Rennen is used for a contest of speed, after the older senses “tournament, chase”.^[4][11]
• 16th century – Chronicles describe the rennen at tournaments.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A race, a sporting contest in which the fastest over a course, running, riding or driving, wins: Sie hat das Rennen über zehn Kilometer gewonnen.^[12][1]
2. (figurative) A contest between rivals for something: das Rennen um den Vorsitz.^[12]
3. The act of running.^[1][11]

Word family

• Renner
• Autorennen
• Motorradrennen
• Pferderennen
• Radrennen

Related words

• rennen
• rinnen
• English run

Usage notes

Das Rennen ist gelaufen (colloquial) means that the matter is settled and nothing more can be done.^[12] Das Rennen machen is to win, to come out on top.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
3. ^ a b Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 2, 405
4. ^ a b c d e f 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 Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 760
6. ^ a b Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 7, 383
7. ^ a b Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 689
8. ^ a b Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
9. ^ Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
10. ^ 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. 14, 812
11. ^ a b c Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
12. ^ a b c d Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag