Etymologically
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richten

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Pronunciation

  • [ˈʁɪçtn̩], [ˈʁɪçtən][1]

Forms

richten (third-person singular present richtet, past tense richtete, past participle gerichtet, auxiliary haben)[1] Old and Middle High German had the syncopated preterite rihta, rihte, still frequent in older New High German, as in Luther's und richten sich auff jre füsze (“and stood up on their feet”, Isaiah 37:10).[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German rihten, inherited from Old High German rihten, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *rihtijan (“to straighten, set right”), inherited from Proto-Germanic *rihtijaną, a factitive verb from the adjective recht, so first “to make straight”.[3][4][1] The same verb is Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌷𐍄𐌾𐌰𐌽 (garaihtjan, “to direct, make right”), Old Norse rétta, Old English rihtan, Old Frisian riuchta and Old Saxon rihtian, continued in English right (“to right”), Dutch richten and Swedish räta.[3][4][2] The formation itself is not found outside Germanic.[2] The adjective goes back to Proto-Indo-European *reǵ- (“straight; to direct”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German rihten is recorded from the end of the 8th century, in glosses and in Isidor, the Monsee fragments, the Tatian, the Hildebrandslied, Otfrid and Notker.[6][7] Its senses already ranged from “to straighten, raise up” and “to direct, steer, rule” to “to correct, prepare” and “to judge, give justice”, glossing Latin dirigere, erigere, regere, corrigere and iudicare.[6]

Semantic evolution

The first sense lives on in crafts: Adelung describes comb-makers straightening crooked horns, and tools such as Richtscheit and Richtschnur “plumb line” take their names from it.[8][9] Richtschnur is recorded from the 15th century and is used figuratively for a guiding principle from the 16th.[10] From “to set upright” came the builders' use, a house being gerichtet when its frame stands, hence Richtfest “topping-out ceremony”.[8][10] Aiming a missile, the eyes or a request at something, and adjusting oneself after something (sich nach etwas richten), grew out of the sense “to point in a direction”, and the noun Richtung appears in the second half of the 18th century.[8][4][10] The legal sense gave Richter, Old High German rihtāri “leader, judge” from the 8th century.[4] Polish borrowed the verb as rychtować “to prepare”, recorded in 1563.[11]

Timeline

  • Late 8th century – Old High German rihten is first recorded.[6]
  • 8th century – The agent noun rihtāri “leader, judge” is recorded.[4]
  • 15th century – Richtschnur is recorded.[10]
  • 16th century – Richtschnur is used figuratively for a principle.[10]
  • 1563 – Polish rychtować “to prepare” is recorded.[11]
  • Second half of the 18th century – Richtung appears.[4][10]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To direct or point something at someone or something: Sie richtete die Taschenlampe auf die Tür.[12][1]
  2. To address a request, question or letter to someone: eine Anfrage an das Ministerium richten.[12][1]
  3. (reflexive) Of things: to be directed at someone or something, and of criticism, to be aimed against someone.[12][1]
  4. (reflexive, with nach) To follow or conform to someone or something, and to depend on something: Der Preis richtet sich nach der Nachfrage.[12][1]
  5. To straighten, to bring into line, to adjust correctly, or to set upright.[12][1]
  6. (chiefly southern Germany, Austria, Switzerland) To put in order, repair, prepare or arrange: das Abendessen richten.[12][1]
  7. To judge, to pass sentence on someone, and (elevated) to condemn harshly.[12][1]
  8. (elevated, dated) To execute.[12][1]

Word family

  • Richter
  • Richtfest
  • Richtschnur
  • Richtung
  • Richtscheit
  • anrichten
  • aufrichten
  • einrichten
  • verrichten
  • Anrichte

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 14, 867
  3. ^ a b Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 766
  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. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  6. ^ a b c Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 7, 468
  7. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 260
  8. ^ a b c 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, p. 3, 1099
  10. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2014), 5th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin / Mannheim / Zürich: Dudenverlag
  11. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag