rechnen

Forms

rechnen (third-person singular present rechnet, past tense rechnete, past participle gerechnet, auxiliary haben)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German rechenen, inherited from Old High German rehhanōn (“to order, prepare”), inherited from Proto-West Germanic *rekanōn.^[2][1][3] The same West Germanic verb is Old English gerecenian, Old Frisian rekenia, Middle Low German rēkenen and Middle Dutch rekenen, and in the modern languages Dutch rekenen and English reckon.^[2][4]

It is a factitive verb formed from an adjective, originally a participle, meaning “directed, ordered”, which survives in recen (“ready, quick”), rekon (“in order”) and reken (“orderly, exact”).^[2][4][5] That adjective belongs to the root of recht, so that the verb first meant “to make straight, put in order”.^[2][4][6] Wiktionary takes it indirectly back to Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ-.^[1]

Kluge thinks Gothic 𐍂𐌰𐌷𐌽𐌾𐌰𐌽 (rahnjan, “to reckon, count”) probably comes from a variant of the same root,^[2] but the Grimms held that it is not related and only resembles the German verb by chance.^[7] The Grimms also note a shorter form of the verb without the second /n/.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German rehhanōn is found in Notker (about 1000) in the senses “to order, arrange, prepare, direct”.^[3][4] Middle High German rechenen meant “to count, calculate” and “to render account”.^[8][4]

Semantic evolution

Early New High German added “to estimate, judge, take into account”,^[4] and the Early New High German dictionary shows reckoning taught as a skill together with reading and writing, and used for settling accounts with someone.^[9] Paul notes the constructions mit etwas rechnen “to expect” and auf etwas rechnen “to count on”, and ausgerechnet “of all things” (recorded in 1933).^[10]

Among the derivatives, Rechenschaft appears in Central German in the 14th century, first for the rendering of accounts;^[4][11] Rechnung “bill” has been used in merchants' language since the 16th century after Italian conto.^[10] Die Rechnung ohne den Wirt machen is in Stieler's dictionary of 1691.^[10] Rechenmaschine dates from the 18th century, and Rechner became the German word for “computer” in the 20th.^[10][4] The verb was borrowed into Polish as rachować, recorded in 1436 in the sense “to live and manage thriftily”.^[12]

Timeline

• About 1000 – Notker uses Old High German rehhanōn.^[3]
• 14th century – rechinschaft “rendering of accounts”.^[4]
• 1436 – Polish rachować is recorded.^[12]
• 16th century – Rechnung “bill” in merchants' language.^[10]
• 1691 – die Rechnung ohne den Wirt machen is recorded.^[10]
• 18th century – Rechenmaschine “calculating machine”.^[10]
• 20th century – Rechner is used for the computer.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To calculate, do arithmetic: Sie rechnete die Aufgabe schnell im Kopf aus.^[6][1]
2. To be thrifty, keep a careful budget: Die Familie muss mit jedem Cent rechnen.^[6]
3. To estimate, allow for: Für die Fahrt rechnen wir drei Stunden.^[6]
4. To count among: Man rechnet sie zu den besten Geigerinnen des Landes.^[6]
5. auf jemanden or mit jemandem rechnen: to rely on someone: Du kannst auf mich rechnen.^[6][1]
6. mit etwas rechnen: to expect something: Am Wochenende ist mit Gewittern zu rechnen.^[6][1]
7. (reflexive) To pay off, be profitable: Die neue Anlage rechnet sich erst nach zehn Jahren.^[1][13]

Word family

• Rechner
• Rechnung
• Rechenschaft
• abrechnen
• ausrechnen
• berechnen
• verrechnen
• ausgerechnet

Related words

• recht
• English reckon

Usage notes

Die Rechnung ohne den Wirt machen is to make plans without taking into account someone who has a say in them;^[10] Paul finds the idea already in Fischart.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 751
3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
5. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 678
6. ^ a b c d e f g Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
7. ^ a b Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 14, 347
8. ^ Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 2, 360
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 d e f g h i Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
11. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
12. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
13. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org