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Strecke

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Etymology and origin of the German word Strecke

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
end of the 15th century, mining language

Pronunciation

  • /ˈʃtʁɛkə/[1]

Forms

Strecke f (genitive Strecke, plural Strecken)[1]

Etymology

It is a noun formed from strecken (“to stretch”).[2][3][1] Middle High German has it only in the compound Middle High German zilstrecke (“stretch of way to a goal, racecourse”); as a free noun it is known from early New High German, above all in mining.[4][3] It corresponds to Middle Low German strecke, Middle Dutch strecke and English stretch.[4]

The verb is strecken, recorded in the 9th century, and found only in West Germanic, with Old English streccan and Old Frisian strekka.[2][3] Kluge and Pfeifer derive it most probably from the adjective strack (“straight, taut”), so that it meant “to make straight and taut”;[2][3] Kluge also notes its parallel to recken and allows that it may be a variant of that verb with an initial /s/.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In late 15th-century mining language Strecke was a horizontal gallery driven from the shaft into the mountain; it could also be a certain length of a water channel.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

In the 17th century it was used of the reach of a ship bridge and, in mathematics, of a straight line; the general sense “stretch of way to a goal” became common only in the 18th century.[3][4] In the 19th century it took on the senses “line segment” in geometry and “section of a road or railway”, and in hunting the game killed in a hunt and laid out in rows.[3]

Czech štreka, Slovene štreken and Hungarian strekk were borrowed from German, and Swedish sträcka and Danish strække too.[6][1][4]

Timeline

  • Middle High German – Recorded in the compound zilstrecke.[7][4]
  • End of the 15th century – Strecke is a horizontal gallery in mining.[3]
  • 1589 – An early New High German record of strecke.[4]
  • 17th century – Used in mathematics for a straight line;[3] Wegstrecke appears.[3]
  • 18th century – The general sense “stretch of way” becomes common.[3][4]
  • 19th century – First records of “line segment”, “section of a traffic route” and the hunting sense.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A stretch or distance of a way: Bis zum Dorf ist es noch eine ganze Strecke.[8][1]
  2. A section of a railway line; a route: Die Strecke zwischen Köln und Bonn wird erneuert.[8][1]
  3. (sports) The set distance of a race: Er schwimmt die 400-Meter-Strecke.[8]
  4. (geometry) A line segment.[8][1]
  5. (mining) A horizontal gallery or roadway.[8][5]
  6. (hunting) The game killed in a hunt and laid out after it.[8][3]

Word family

  • Wegstrecke
  • Streckenabschnitt
  • strecken
  • strack
  • recken
  • English stretch

Usage notes

Auf der Strecke bleiben “to fall by the wayside, fail” probably comes from sport, of a runner who does not reach the finish.[9][8] Jemanden zur Strecke bringen “to hunt someone down, to kill (game)” comes from hunting, where the killed animals are laid out in a row;[9][3] Pfeifer dates it to the 19th century.[9][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g 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. 890
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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 d e f g Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 19, 1092
  5. ^ a b Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
  6. ^ Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
  7. ^ Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  9. ^ a b c Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 831
Cite this entry

“Strecke.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/de/Strecke. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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