retten

Forms

retten (third-person singular present rettet, past tense rettete, past participle gerettet, auxiliary haben)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German retten, inherited from Old High German retten (also hretten), inherited from Proto-West Germanic *hraddjan (“to save, rescue”).^[2][1][3] The verb is found only in West Germanic: Old Saxon āhreddian (“to rescue”), Old Frisian hredda, Old English hreddan (“to save, free, take away”) and Middle Dutch redden, with English rid and redd.^[2][4][3][1] From Middle Low German it passed into the North Germanic languages, as Danish redde, Swedish rädda and Icelandic redda.^[3][5]

Its further origin is unclear.^[4][6] Kluge and Duden see in it a causative like Sanskrit श्रथयति (śratháyati, “loosens, releases”) beside श्रथ्नाति (śrathnā́ti, “becomes loose”), so that it first meant “to tear away, free”.^[2][7][8] Pfeifer mentions, with reservations, a connection with Proto-Indo-European *kret- (“to shake, move quickly”), as in Lithuanian krė͂sti (“to shake”) and Old High German hrad (“quick”), which would point to a first sense “push away from danger”.^[4] Wiktionary also derives it from Proto-Germanic *hradaz (“fast”), with a first sense “to be quick”.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German retten is recorded in Otfrid's Gospel book (863–871) and in the Ludwigslied, meaning “to rescue, save, free”, and with a dative of the person “to hinder someone in something”.^[9][10] Otfrid writes of Christ that he ginâdlîcho unsih retita, “graciously saved us”.^[5] In glosses, irrettan renders Latin excutere “to shake off”, which the Grimms take as a trace of the concrete sense “to tear out of danger”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Middle High German retten also meant to put out a fire, and Early New High German still used it so.^[11][4][12] The preterite was often ratte, without umlaut.^[5] Until the 18th century one rescued someone von something; then vor and aus took over.^[13] The cry rette sich, wer kann! “every man for himself” is old, and today mostly jocular.^[13][6]

The noun Retter, Middle High German rettære, spread mainly through Luther and often refers to God;^[13][4] Rettung is Middle High German rettunge.^[13][4] In ball games the verb now also means to prevent a goal at the last moment.^[3][14] Polish ratować (1529), Czech retovat and Slovak ratovať were borrowed from German.^[15]

Timeline

• 863–871 – Otfrid uses Old High German retten.^[9]
• Middle High German – retten also means “to put out a fire”.^[11]
• 1529 – Polish ratować is first recorded, borrowed from German.^[15]
• 18th century – vor replaces von with the verb.^[13]
• 1861 – First record of Rettungsboot “lifeboat”.^[13]
• 1884 – First record of Rettungsring “lifebuoy”.^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. To save, rescue someone or something from danger, death or loss: Ein Passant rettete den Jungen aus dem Fluss.^[6][1]
2. To bring into safety;^[6][14] (reflexive) to escape to a safe place: Die Wanderer retteten sich in eine Hütte.^[6][14]
3. (sports) To prevent a goal or point by the opposing side at the last moment.^[14][3]

Word family

• Retter
• Retterin
• Rettung
• erretten
• Rettungsboot
• Rettungswagen

Related words

• English rid
• Dutch redden

Usage notes

Nicht mehr zu retten sein (colloquial) is to be quite mad, and sich vor etwas kaum retten können is to be overwhelmed by too much of something, such as calls or admirers.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 763
3. ^ a b c d e Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 7, 419
4. ^ a b c d e f 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 Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 14, 825
6. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
7. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 692
8. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
10. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 259
11. ^ a b Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities
12. ^ Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
13. ^ 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
14. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
15. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de