rechts

Forms

rechts^[1]

Etymology

It is the adverbial genitive of recht, from German recht + -s, formed as the opposite of links.^[2][1][3] The right side is the “correct” one, the right hand the skilful one, as against the left.^[2]

The adjective is inherited from Middle High German reht, inherited from Old High German reht, inherited from Proto-Germanic *rehta- (“right, straight”).^[2] The same word is Gothic 𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌷𐍄𐍃 (raihts), Old Norse réttr, Old English riht and Old Frisian riucht.^[2][4] Like Latin rēctus (“straight, right”) and Ancient Greek ὀρεκτός (orektós, “stretched out”), it is a past participle in ⟨*-to-⟩ of Proto-Indo-European *reǵ- (“to direct, guide”), the root of regō (“to guide, rule”) and ὀρέγω (orégō, “I stretch out”).^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its oldest use, in Middle High German, is “correctly”, as in Lamprecht von Regensburg's Tochter Syon.^[3] Kluge dates the adverb of direction to the 16th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

As an adverb of direction, rechts replaced an older use of plain recht “on the right”.^[3] The political sense dates from the 19th century: it follows French la droite, the conservative parties seated on the right of the president of the French parliament after the Restoration.^[5] In knitting it refers to plain stitches.^[6]

Timeline

• 13th century – Middle High German rehtes is used in the sense “correctly”.^[3]
• 16th century – rechts appears as an adverb of direction.^[2][5]
• 19th century – The political sense, after French usage.^[5]

Meanings

Adverb

1. On the right side; to the right: die zweite Straße rechts “the second street on the right”.^[6][1]
2. On or from the right side of something seen from a given position.^[6]
3. (knitting) With plain stitches.^[6]
4. Politically on the right; right-wing.^[6][1][5]

Preposition

1. (with genitive, less common) On the right side of: rechts des Flusses “to the right of the river”.^[6]

Related words

• recht
• links
• English right

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 751
3. ^ 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. 14, 422
4. ^ a b Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
5. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
6. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag