Etymologically
Log in

echt

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 20:05. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • /ɛçt/, [ʔɛçt][1]

Forms

echt (strong nominative masculine singular echter, comparative echter, superlative am echtesten)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle Low German echt (“lawful, genuine”), taken over from Low German, contracted from ēhacht, earlier ēhaft (“legally valid, lawful, born in wedlock”), a derivative of ē (“law, divine commandment, contract, marriage”), the word continued by Ehe.[2][3][1] The change of /ft/ to /xt/ is Low German, as in Nichte and sacht.[3][1] The High German counterpart is Middle High German ēhaft, Old High German ēohaft (“in keeping with custom, pious”), from Proto-West Germanic *aiwahaft, and it matches Old Frisian aft (“lawful”).[2][1] Dutch echt is the same word, and Icelandic ekta, Swedish äkta and Danish ægte were borrowed from Middle Low German.[4]

The sources date its entry into High German differently: Kluge and Paul to the 13th century, through the Sachsenspiegel, Pfeifer to the 13th century in Central German, and the Duden dictionary to the 16th century, as a legal term.[2][5][3][6] The Grimms noted that the old Upper German dialects did not know it, and that neither Geiler von Kaysersberg nor Luther used it.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Sachsenspiegel (13th century) uses it freely in echte nôt, echt ding, echte wîf and echt or unecht boren, where the Swabian law book has êhaft and êlich.[7] Echte Not was a hardship the law accepted as an excuse for not appearing in court, and echtes Ding a regular court held without summons; a document of 1261 says that the mayor holds three echte ding a year.[4]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was “lawful, legitimate”: Stieler gives ein achter Sohn for Latin filius legitimus, and Schiller's Mary Stuart speaks of being born im echten Ehebett; since the 19th century this survives only in historical writing.[5][4] From the 17th century, first in the formula echt und recht, it came to mean the opposite of false, imitated or merely apparent, as in Goethe's Der echte Moslem spricht vom Paradiese.[4][5] Later it took special senses such as “fast” of colours, as in farbecht.[3]

The Grimms rejected the spelling ächt.[7] In colloquial and youth language echt is an adverb “really”, as in Plenzdorf.[5] English borrowed echt “genuine, typical” by 1916, and Upper Silesian Polish echt is recorded in 1854.[8]

Timeline

  • 8th century – Old High German ēwahaft “lawful, pious” is recorded.[2]
  • 13th century – The Sachsenspiegel uses echt as a legal word.[7][5]
  • 1261 – A charter speaks of three echte ding.[4]
  • 17th century – echt comes to mean “genuine, not false”.[5][4]
  • 18th century – The noun Echtheit is formed.[3]
  • 1854 – echt is recorded in Upper Silesian Polish.[8]
  • 1916 – First record of echt in English.[8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Genuine, not imitated or forged; also purebred: ein echter Rubin;[9][1] ein echter Dackel.[9][1]
  2. Real, not pretended or merely apparent: Ihre Freude war echt.[9][1]
  3. Typical: Das war wieder ein echter Montag.[9]
  4. (mathematics) Of a fraction, proper: ein echter Bruch.[9][1]
  5. (chemistry, textiles) Of colours, fast, hardly affected by washing, light or chemicals.[9]
  6. (dated) Lawful, legitimate.[9][5]

Adverb

  1. (colloquial) Really, truly: Der Film war echt spannend.[9][1]

Interjection

  1. (colloquial) Expresses disbelief or surprise at news: Echt? Das wusste ich nicht.[1]

Word family

  • Echtheit
  • unecht
  • waschecht
  • farbecht
  • Ehe
  • ehehaft
  • Middle Low German ēhaft

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. 227
  3. ^ a b c d e 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 Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm, Neubearbeitung (1965–2018), ed. Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften and Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, 9 vols. (A–F), Leipzig / Stuttgart: Hirzel, p. 7, 37
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  6. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 221
  7. ^ a b c d Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 3, 20
  8. ^ a b c Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag