Richter

Forms

Richter m (genitive Richters, plural Richter, feminine Richterin)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German rihtære (also rihter), inherited from Old High German rihtāri (“judge, ruler”), formed from Old High German rihten (“to judge”) + -āri: an agent noun of the verb richten in its sense “to sit in judgement”.^[2][3][1] The same formation is Middle Low German richtere, Middle Dutch rechter, Dutch rechter and the rare Old English rihtere; Old Norse réttari appears only from the middle of the 13th century.^[4][1] The Grimms' dictionary notes that the word is rare in the older Germanic languages, which mostly used other words for a judge, such as Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌿𐌰 (staua), dómari and tuomo.^[4]

That verb continues rihten and Proto-Germanic *rehtjan (“to make straight”), a factitive of the adjective recht; its cognates include Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌷𐍄𐌾𐌰𐌽 (garaihtjan, “to rectify”) and rihtan.^[3][5] Köbler traces the family to Proto-Indo-European *reǵ- (“straight; to direct”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German rihtāri is recorded from glosses of about 765 and in Tatian, Otloh's prayer and Notker, meaning “judge” but also “lord, ruler of the world, guide”.^[6][7] Middle High German rihtære could be a leader, an ordainer, an overlord, a judge and also an executioner or a court officer.^[6][3]

Semantic evolution

The modern sense, a person appointed to decide legal disputes, narrowed the older one of ruler and guide.^[3][8] Around 1800 Adelung also knew Richter for a tool that fixes the extent or direction of something, but only in compounds, and for anyone who judges people or things, as in Kunstrichter “critic” and Splitterrichter “fault-finder”;^[9] God is der höchste Richter.^[9] The adjective richterlich dates from the 16th century.^[3]

Proverbs on the judge are old: der Richter darf kein Vetter sein “the judge may not be a cousin” and Richter sollen zwei gleiche Ohren haben “judges should have two equal ears”.^[4] The office of village or community head was also called Richter, which is why the surname is so widespread; the first bearer is recorded in 1388 in the Saxon Vogtland.^[10]

Timeline

• 8th century – Old High German rihtāri appears in glosses.^[2][6]
• 1388 – First record of Richter as a family name, in the Vogtland.^[10]
• 16th century – First record of the adjective richterlich.^[3]
• Late 18th century – Adelung records compounds such as Kunstrichter and Splitterrichter.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A judge: a person appointed by the state to administer justice and decide legal disputes;^[8][1] vorsitzender Richter, presiding judge.^[8][1]
2. Anyone who passes judgement on others: sich zum Richter über jemanden aufwerfen, to set oneself up as someone's judge.^[8][9]
3. (plural) The Book of Judges, a book of the Old Testament.^[8][1]

Word family

• Richterin
• richterlich
• Schiedsrichter
• Scharfrichter
• Kunstrichter

Related words

• richten
• recht
• Gericht
• Richtung

Usage notes

Richter is one of the commonest German family names, the 14th in Germany, because the word once also named the head of a village or community.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 766
3. ^ 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
4. ^ 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, 888
5. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2007), 4th ed., Duden vol. 7, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
7. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 260
8. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
9. ^ a b c d Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
10. ^ a b c Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org