reden

Forms

reden (third-person singular present redet, past tense redete, past participle geredet, auxiliary haben)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German reden, inherited from Old High German redōn (also rediōn), derived from the noun Rede, whose Old High German form is reda.^[2][3][1] The same verb is Old Saxon reðiōn and Old Frisian rethia.^[2][3] An Old High German side form redinōn gave Redner.^[2][3]

The noun goes back to Proto-Germanic *raþjǭ (“account, reckoning”), also in Gothic 𐍂𐌰𐌸𐌾𐍉 (raþjō, “number, account”), beside which Gothic has 𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌰𐌸𐌾𐌰𐌽 (garaþjan, “to count”).^[1][4][3] Kluge therefore starts from a sense “to count”, which led through “to recount, tell” to “to speak”;^[2][5][6] Wahrig and Paul follow him.^[2][5][6] The Grimms' dictionary sees the verb rather as a fairly young formation from the later senses of the noun.^[7]

The Germanic noun matches Latin ratio (“reckoning, account”) so exactly that borrowing suggests itself;^[2][8] Kluge holds that kinship is more likely for phonological reasons, with later influence of the Latin word, while Duden allows that the noun may be a loan.^[2][8] Orel treats the two as identical.^[9] Kroonen finds the forms parallel but notes that the Latin noun is derived from reor (“to think, believe”), whereas Germanic has no such verb and points to a primary root Proto-Indo-European *h₂rh₁-t-.^[4] Pfeifer and Kluge derive the family from Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- (“to fit together”), Wiktionary from Proto-Indo-European *h₂reh₁- (“to think, reason”).^[3][2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German redōn appears in Otfrid, Notker and the glosses, meaning “to say, speak, proclaim, tell, report, argue”.^[10][11] Old Saxon reðiōn “to speak” occurs once, in the Heliand.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Middle High German reden meant “to speak, talk, say”, with contracted forms such as reist and reit that the modern standard language did not keep.^[12][7] Unlike sagen and sprechen, reden seldom introduces direct or indirect speech;^[6] Eberhard (1800) observed that a parrot may be said to sprechen but not to have geredet for long, since reden implies connected, meaningful discourse.^[6] With mit it often means “to negotiate”, whence mit sich reden lassen “to be open to persuasion”, and gut reden haben “it's easy for you to talk” is recorded in Gotthelf (1850).^[6]

Redensart (early 17th century) is a loan translation of French manière de parler or façon de parler.^[3][8] The adjectives redselig (15th century) and beredsam (17th century) belong to the same family.^[3]

Timeline

• 9th century – Old High German redōn is recorded.^[2][3]
• c. 830 – Old Saxon reðiōn in the Heliand.^[7]
• 15th century – redselig and beredt appear.^[3]
• Early 17th century – Redensart is formed after French.^[3]
• 1800 – Eberhard distinguishes reden from sprechen.^[6]
• 1850 – gut reden haben in Gotthelf.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To express oneself in words, to speak: langsam und deutlich reden.^[13][1]
2. To say what one thinks in connected speech; to talk about others, to gossip: Im Dorf wird viel geredet.^[13]
3. To give a speech: Die Ministerin redet heute vor dem Landtag.^[13]
4. To bring oneself or another into a state by talking: sich in Rage reden.^[13]
5. To talk (mit someone, über or von something), to converse: Wir müssen einmal in Ruhe miteinander reden.^[13][1]
6. (intransitive) To talk, to reveal a secret.^[1]

Word family

• Redner
• redselig
• beredsam
• beredt
• Redensart
• Gerede
• anreden
• ausreden
• einreden
• überreden
• verabreden
• zureden

Related words

• Rede
• redlich
• raten
• Räson

Usage notes

Reden ist Silber, Schweigen ist Gold “speech is silver, silence is golden” is a proverb.^[13] A separate Middle High German rëden “to sift, shake through a sieve”, later spelt räden, survived into the 17th century.^[7][14][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 752
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d e Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 14, 463
8. ^ a b c Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2007), 4th ed., Duden vol. 7, Mannheim: Dudenverlag
9. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
10. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 255
11. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
12. ^ a b Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 2, 367
13. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
14. ^ Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de