German words first recorded in the 13th century

It is inherited from Middle High German büne (also bün), a word found only in German and Dutch: Middle Low German böne (“wooden gallery, platform, ceiling”) and Dutch beun. No Old High German form…

It is inherited from Middle High German anderunge, also enderunge, a noun formed from German ändern + -ung. The verb ändern is derived from the adjective ander “other”. That adjective goes back to…

It is inherited from Middle High German englisch, also engelsch, formed from the first part of the name England with the suffix -isch. The name of the country goes back to Old English Engle (“the…

It is inherited from Middle High German verurteilen (“to decide by judgement, pronounce as a verdict”), formed with the prefix ver- from urteilen, the verb of Urteil “judgement, verdict”. The noun…

It is inherited from Middle High German tiutsch (“the German language”), the adjective deutsch used as a noun. The adjective is diutisch, Old High German diutisc, Old Saxon thiudisc, from Proto-West…

It is inherited from Middle High German entscheiden, formed from German ent- + scheiden. The same formation is Middle Low German entschēiden and Middle Dutch ontsceiden. The base scheiden continues…

It is inherited from Middle High German inwoner, beside innewoner, formed with -er from the verb einwohnen, innewonen “to dwell in”, from wohnen. Paul takes it as a loan translation of Latin incola…

It is inherited from Middle High German heftec (“firm, persistent”), whose origin is disputed. Pfeifer, Duden and Paul derive it from the adjective Old High German haft (“bound, captive”), the base…

It is inherited from Middle High German verbezzern, formed from Middle High German ver- + bezzern (“to make better”). The prefix intensifies the meaning of bessern, Old High German bezzirōn…

It is inherited from Middle High German verletzen, from Middle High German ver- + letzen (“to hinder, damage”). The simple verb survives only as the obsolete letzen. It is Old High German lezzen…

It is inherited from Middle High German artikel, borrowed from Latin articulus (“small joint; section”), a diminutive of artus (“joint, limb”). Kluge and Pfeifer describe several borrowings of the…

It is inherited from Middle High German octōber, borrowed from Latin Octōber, from octō (“eight”): it was the eighth month of the old Roman year, which began in March, and kept its name after the…

It is inherited from Middle High German parlament, borrowed from Old French parlement (“speech, discussion”), borrowed in the second half of the 13th century, probably under the influence of…

It is inherited from Middle High German mōmente, a feminine noun, borrowed from Latin mōmentum (“movement; moment”), from moveō (“to move”). Pfeifer leaves open whether the Middle High German word…

It is borrowed from Latin datum (“given; issued”), the neuter past participle of dō (“to give”) used as a noun. The Latin verb also meant “to issue, write out” a document, and since antiquity its…

It is inherited from Middle High German september, borrowed from Latin september, short for mēnsis (“month”) September, from septem (“seven”). The Romans called it so because it was the seventh…

It is inherited from Middle High German grenize, borrowed from Polish granica (“boundary mark, border”). Pfeifer names Old Polish as the source and says it was borrowed along the whole length of the…

It is inherited from Middle High German endern (also andern), formed from anderer. The same verb is Middle Low German anderen and Middle Dutch anderen. The Grimms' dictionary says that the verb is…

It is inherited from Middle High German anteil, formed from Middle High German ane + teil, beside Middle Low German andêil. Teil is Old High German teil, from Proto-Germanic *dailiz (“part”), also…

It is inherited from Middle High German beriht (“instruction, settlement, report”), a back-formation from the verb berichten, berihten, Old High German birihten (“to set right, improve”). The verb…

It is the past participle of entfernen, inherited from Middle High German entverret, which became fixed as an adjective meaning “far away”. The verb, recorded from the 13th century as entfernen and…

It is inherited from Middle High German plaz, borrowed from Old French place (“open space, square”), from Latin platea (“broad street”), from Ancient Greek πλατεῖα (plateîa, “street”), short for…

It is inherited from Middle High German runt, borrowed from Old French ront (“round”), from Vulgar Latin *retundus, a dissimilated form of Latin rotundus (“round”), from rota (“wheel”), which is…

It is inherited from Middle High German rennen (“running; tournament”), the verb rennen used as a noun. The verb goes back to Old High German rennen (“to make run or flow”), from Proto-Germanic…

It is inherited from Middle High German ledeclīche (“freely, without hindrance”), formed from the adjective Middle High German ledic (“free, unhindered”), now ledig, with the suffix -lich. Kluge…

It is inherited from Middle High German niderlāge (“a lying down; a stopping place; a defeat”), a noun to niederlegen, originally “the act of laying or lying down”. Its parts are nieder and lāge (“a…

It is inherited from Middle High German pūse, borrowed from Old French pause, from Latin pausa (“halt, stop, end”), from Ancient Greek παῦσις (paûsis, “rest, ceasing”), from παύω (paúō, “to make…

It is inherited from Middle High German partīe, borrowed from Old French partie (“part, side, party”), the noun use of the feminine past participle of partir (“to divide”), from Latin partior (“to…

It is inherited from Middle High German erklæren (“to make clear”), formed from Middle High German er- + klæren (“to clear”) from klār (“clear”) (modern klar). The adjective came into German in the…

It is inherited from Middle High German anlāge, a noun formed from anliegen and anlegen. The verb is Old High German analeggen (“to put on, lay on”) (8th century), from legen, the causative of…

It is inherited from Middle High German rāthūs, a compound from German Rat (“council”) + Haus (“house”). The first part, Middle High German rāt, Old High German rāt, is the verbal noun of raten and…

It is inherited from Middle High German ūfgābe, the noun of ūfgëben, modern aufgeben. Middle Low German has upgāve. The verb is formed from auf and geben, which is Old High German geban, from…

It is inherited from Middle High German anspruch (“accusation, objection”), formed from ansprechen, Middle High German anesprechen, Old High German anasprehhan, like Spruch from the simple verb. The…

It is inherited from Middle High German begrif (“area, district; extent”), a noun formed from begreifen in its sense “to enclose, contain”. The same word is Middle Low German begrip and Dutch…

It is inherited from Middle High German termin, borrowed from Medieval Latin terminus (“term of payment, fixed date”), the Medieval Latin use of the Classical word for “boundary stone, boundary…

It is borrowed from Latin Februārius (“month of purification”), short for mēnsis Februārius, taken into German in the 15th century. The Latin adjective belongs to februō (“to purify”) and februum…

It is inherited from Middle High German abesnit, the noun of abschneiden “to cut off”, formed from ab- and Schnitt “cut”. The verb is Middle High German abesnīden, Old High German abasnīdan. The…

It is inherited from Middle High German antrac (“plot, scheme”), a back-formation from the verb anetragen (“to bring up; to instigate”), from ane (“on, at”) and tragen (“to carry”). Kluge treats it…

It is inherited from Middle High German ūftrit (“height, length”), a noun formed from auftreten (Middle High German ūftreten (“to rise, step up”)), that is auf and treten. The Grimms compare Danish…

It is inherited from Middle High German ūȥern (“to give out of one's hands, (reflexive) to renounce”), a verb formed from Middle High German ūȥer (“outside; outer”), the source of außer and äußere…

Kluge explains it as from Middle High German be- + geleite (“escort”), formed in the 14th century in the sense “to give an escort” from the noun belonging to leiten, and contracted in New High…

It is inherited from Middle High German behoubeten (“to prove, confirm”), a prefixed form of houbeten (“to acknowledge as head; to regard oneself as head”), formed from houbet (“head, chief, lord”)…

It is inherited from Middle High German diutlīche, first only an adverb, formed from Middle High German diuten + -lich, now deuten and -lich: “what can easily be interpreted”. Related formations are…

It is from German durch + aus, recorded from the 14th century, and first meant “through and out”, then “completely”. Wiktionary traces it to the late medieval phrase Middle High German durch ūȥ…

It is inherited from Middle High German îndruc, formed from the verb îndrucken (“to press in, imprint”) (today eindrücken), but surely not without the influence of Latin impressiō (“impression”)…

It is inherited from Middle High German erhalten, formed from German er- + halten. The sources disagree on its age: the Grimms' dictionary calls it a typically New High German word, absent from…

It is borrowed from Middle Low German gēgenēre (“adversary”), an agent noun from Middle Low German gēgenen (“to meet, come towards”), which was derived from the adverb and preposition gegen. The…

It is borrowed from Latin īnfōrmō (“to shape, form; to instruct”), from in- and fōrmō (“to form, shape”), from fōrma (“form, shape”) (see Form), borrowed in the 14th century. German took the Latin…

It is inherited from Middle High German karte (“stiff sheet of paper”), borrowed from French carte (“stiff sheet”), borrowed in the 14th century. The French word goes back to Latin charta (“sheet of…

It is borrowed from Middle Low German lēveren (“to deliver”), a term of the Hanseatic merchants, from Old French livrer (“to hand over, deliver”), from Latin līberō (“to free, release”). The Latin…

It is borrowed from Latin prō (“before, for, instead of, in proportion to”), a learned borrowing first used in the language of merchants, recorded since the 14th century. The Latin preposition…

It is inherited from Middle High German process (“decree, judicial decision”), borrowed from Medieval Latin processus (“lawsuit”), from Latin prōcessus (“advance, progress”), the noun of prōcēdō…

It is inherited from Middle High German schützen (“to dam up, hold back water”), inherited from Proto-West Germanic *skuttjan (“to shut, close off”). Old High German has no record of it, and in…

It is inherited from Middle High German swīzer, first recorded in late Middle High German in the 14th century. It is formed from German Schweiz + -er, and the country is named after the canton of…

It is borrowed from Latin status (“standing, position, condition, rank”), a noun formed from stō (“to stand”), borrowed in the 14th century. Pfeifer finds Middle High German stat “legal condition…

It is inherited from Middle High German text, borrowed from Latin textus (“sequence, connection (of speech); literally a weaving, fabric”). The Latin noun belongs to texō (“to weave, plait; to join…

It is a fusion from German über + Haupt, from the late medieval phrase Middle High German über houbet (“over the head(s)”), with the accusative of the noun. It began as a term of the cattle trade…

It is inherited from Middle High German ūre (“hour”), borrowed from Middle Low German ūre (“hour”), from Middle Dutch ure, from Old French (h)ore, from Latin hōra (“time, hour”), from Ancient Greek…

It is late inherited from Middle High German verlangen (“to long for”), formed with the prefix ver- on langen, from Old High German langēn (“to long for”). Old High German also had belangēn, and Old…

It is inherited from Middle High German vertrac, recorded in late Middle High German from the 14th century, beside the Central German form vertraht. The noun was made from the verb vertragen (“to…