erreichen

Forms

erreichen (third-person singular present erreicht, past tense erreichte, past participle erreicht, auxiliary haben)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German erreichen (“to reach by stretching out, hit, grasp”), inherited from Old High German irreihhen (“to reach, catch up”), formed from Old High German ir- + reihhen, now er- and reichen.^[2][3][1] Beside it Old High German had irreihhōn (“to grasp mentally, understand”).^[2][4] The same formation is Middle Low German errēiken.^[3]

The base verb is Proto-West Germanic *raikijan (“to reach”), also in Old English rǣcan (English reach) and Old Frisian rēka.^[5][2] Pfeifer connects it with Lithuanian réižti (“to stretch”), Old Irish riag (“torture (by stretching the limbs)”) and a root Proto-Indo-European *rēig̑- (“to stretch out, reach with outstretched hand”), close to the root Proto-Indo-European *reg̑- of recht.^[2] Kluge considers the same connections but advises caution, since the family has no close relatives and its sounds are hard to judge.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German irreihhen and irreihhōn are found only in Notker, around 1000, meaning “to reach, attain” and “to grasp, understand”.^[6][4] Notker asks how the soul, which cannot rise above itself, could reach God, who is so high above it: uuio irreihti sî danne den der obe iro so hoho ist.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Middle High German erreichen, recorded from the Kaiserchronik (about 1150), meant “to reach by stretching, hit, grasp, understand, obtain, overtake”.^[7][2] Paul traces the uses: first spatial, “to reach, get as far as”, as in Schiller's Tell (Ihm gehört das Weite, / Was sein Pfeil erreicht) and Goethe's Erlkönig (Erreicht den Hof mit Mühe und Noth); then “to find someone” from late Middle High German; and “to reach an age” from the 15th century.^[8] The sense “to grasp mentally”, from late Old High German, is now obsolete.^[8][9]

The sense “to achieve, obtain” came early: Luther's Bible says that however much one says, one cannot attain it (Sirach 43:29), and it became one of the two main senses of the modern word.^[10][3] In the modern language it also means “to get one's way” and “to contact someone”, as in telefonisch erreichen.^[8][11]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – Old High German irreihhen and irreihhōn are used by Notker.^[4][3]
• c. 1150 – Middle High German erreichen appears in the Kaiserchronik.^[7]
• Late Middle High German – First record of the sense “to find, meet someone”.^[8]
• 15th century – ein Alter erreichen “to reach an age” is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To reach something by stretching out, so as to touch or grasp it: Ich erreiche das oberste Brett nicht.^[11][1]
2. To get to, arrive at a place or person; to catch a train or connection; to reach a level, stage or age: Wir erreichten das Dorf am Abend.^[11][1]
3. To contact, to get in touch with: Sie ist telefonisch nicht zu erreichen.^[11][1]
4. To achieve, to get one's way: Mit Geduld erreicht man mehr.^[11][1]

Word family

• Erreichung
• erreichbar
• unerreichbar

Related words

• reichen
• gereichen
• Bereich
• English reach

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e 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. 8, 2083
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
5. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 755
6. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 257
7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
10. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 3, 943
11. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag