German words first recorded in the 8th century

It is inherited from Middle High German vrāge, inherited from Old High German frāga, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *frāgu, inherited from Proto-Germanic *frēgō (“question”). Pfeifer and the…

It is inherited from Middle High German vrouwe, inherited from Old High German frouwa (“mistress, lady”), inherited from Proto-West Germanic *frauwjā, inherited from Proto-Germanic *frawjǭ (“lady”)…

It is inherited from Middle High German vrüeje, inherited from Old High German fruoi, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *frō (“early”): the Old High German adjective was formed from the adverb…

It is inherited from Middle High German geburttac, inherited from Old High German giburtitago (“day of birth”), formed from German Geburt + Tag as a loan translation of Latin diēs nātālis…

It is inherited from Middle High German gevāre (“ambush; deceit”), a form strengthened with the prefix ge- of vāre (“ambush, malice”), inherited from Old High German fāra (“ambush, snare”)…

It is inherited from Middle High German gegen, inherited from Old High German gagan (also ⟨gegin⟩), inherited from Proto-West Germanic *gagin, inherited from Proto-Germanic *gagin. Kluge sets up the…

It is inherited from Middle High German gemeinsam, inherited from Old High German gimeinsam, a derivative from Old High German gimeini (“common”) + -sam, the older form of gemein. Kluge and the…

It is inherited from Middle High German geringe, inherited from Old High German giringi, with the prefix ge- added to ringi (“light, slight”), which lived on as ringe and, without the prefix, until…

It is inherited from Middle High German gespræche, inherited from Old High German gisprāhhi (“eloquence, speech, conversation”), a collective noun formed with gi- from Old High German sprāhha…

It is inherited from Middle High German grîfen, inherited from Old High German grīfan, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *grīpan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *grīpaną (“to grab, grasp”), a strong…

It is inherited from Middle High German grōz, inherited from Old High German grōz, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *grauta-, an adjective found only in West Germanic. The same word is Old Saxon…

The feminine is inherited from Middle High German grüene, inherited from Old High German gruonī, an abstract noun formed with the suffix /-ī/ from the adjective grün, like Old High German rōtī…

It is inherited from Middle High German heiz, inherited from Old High German heiz, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *hait, inherited from Proto-Germanic *haitaz (“hot”). The same word is Old Saxon…

It is inherited from Middle High German her, inherited from Old High German hera, formed with a suffix of direction from the pronominal stem Proto-Germanic *hi- (“this”), which points to the place…

It is inherited from Middle High German hinder, inherited from Old High German hintar, inherited from Proto-Germanic *hinder (“behind”). Kluge reconstructs the Germanic preposition as *henderan. The…

It is inherited from Middle High German hof, inherited from Old High German hof, inherited from Proto-Germanic *hufą. The same word is Old Saxon hof, Old Frisian hof (“court, yard”), Old English hof…

It is inherited from Middle High German insel, borrowed from Latin īnsula (“island”). The earlier form, Old High German īsila (9th century) and early īsele, rests on the Romance form without the…

It is inherited from Middle High German jā, inherited from Old High German jā, inherited from Proto-Germanic *ja (“yes”). The same word is Gothic 𐌾𐌰 (ja), Old Saxon ja, Old Frisian je, Old English…

It is inherited from Middle High German jærec, inherited from Old High German jārīg, an adjective formed from the noun that is now Jahr with the suffix -ig. That noun goes back to Proto-Germanic…

It is inherited from Middle High German jener, inherited from Old High German jenēr, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *jain, inherited from Proto-Germanic *jainaz (“that over there”). Related…

It is inherited from Middle High German jugentlich, inherited from Old High German jugundlīh, an adjective formed with the suffix -lich on Jugend “youth”. The noun is jugund, from Proto-West…

It is inherited from Middle High German kempfen, inherited from Old High German kempfan, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *kampijan (“to battle”), formed from the noun Kampf, Old High German…

It is inherited from Middle High German kein, a shortening of nekein and enkein, inherited from Old High German nihein, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *nehwain, originally “and not one”. The Old…

It is inherited from Middle High German kennen, inherited from Old High German kennen, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *kannijan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *kannijaną (“to make known”). The…

It is inherited from Middle High German kunst, inherited from Old High German kunst, inherited from Proto-Germanic *kunstiz (“knowledge, ability”). It is an abstract noun of the verb können, formed…

It is borrowed from Latin cursus (“running, course, journey, circulation”), borrowed several times, by different routes. The earliest form, Old High German curs (about 800), and Middle High German…

It is inherited from Middle High German kurz, inherited from Old High German kurz, borrowed from Latin curtus (“shortened, docked, mutilated”), borrowed before the High German consonant shift, so…

It is inherited from Middle High German lāge, inherited from Old High German lāga (“ambush, trap”), an abstract noun of liegen with a different vowel grade. Duden calls it a word found only in…

It is inherited from Middle High German louf, inherited from Old High German hlouf, inherited from Proto-Germanic *hlaupą (“leap; course, run”), the noun of the verb laufen. The same noun is Middle…

It is inherited from Middle High German leider, inherited from Old High German leidōr, leidor, originally the comparative of the adverb leido (leide), which goes with the adjective leid. The…

It is inherited from Middle High German leisten, inherited from Old High German leisten, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *laistijan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *laistijaną (“to follow”). The…

It is inherited from Middle High German lezzist, contracted lest, inherited from Old High German lezzist, beside lazzōst, the superlative of the adjective that survives as lass “weary, slack” (laz)…

It is inherited from Middle High German liebe, inherited from Old High German liubī, an abstract noun formed only in German from the adjective lieb (“dear”), liob. A form lioba appears beside it…

It is inherited from Middle High German melden (“to tell, announce, betray”), inherited from Old High German meldōn (“to denounce, betray”), inherited from Proto-West Germanic *melþōn (“to point…

It is inherited from Middle High German mitte, inherited from Old High German mittī, inherited from Proto-Germanic *midjǭ (“middle”). Old High German also had a neuter noun mitti, used by Otfrid and…

It is inherited from Middle High German morgene, inherited from Old High German morgane, the dative singular of the noun Morgen “morning” used as an adverb, properly “in the morning”. The noun with…

It is inherited from Middle High German næhe, inherited from Old High German nāhī, the abstract noun of nah (Old High German nāh). The adjective goes back to Proto-Germanic *nēhwaz (“near”), also…

It is inherited from Middle High German nemelīche, also namelīche, the adverb of namelich (“named, known, explicit”), inherited from Old High German namalīh (“important, known”), formed from Old…

It is inherited from Middle High German natūre, inherited from Old High German natūra, borrowed from Latin nātūra (“birth; nature, character”), from nātus (“born”), the past participle of nāscor…

It is inherited from Middle High German niun, inherited from Old High German niun, inherited from Proto-Germanic *newun (“nine”). The same word is Gothic 𐌽𐌹𐌿𐌽 (niun), which had two syllables, Old…

It is inherited from Middle High German nœtic, inherited from Old High German nōtag (“forced, urgent, needy”), an adjective formed from the noun Not “need, compulsion” with the suffix -ig. The same…

It is inherited from Middle High German nutzen (also nützen), inherited from Old High German nuzzōn (“to enjoy, spend”), inherited from Proto-Germanic *nutōną (“to make use of”). Pfeifer derives the…

It is inherited from Middle High German rūm, inherited from Old High German rūm, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *rūm, inherited from Proto-Germanic *rūmą (“room, open space”). The noun is a…

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. The same verb is Old Saxon reðiōn…

It is inherited from Middle High German regel(e), inherited from Old High German regula, borrowed from Medieval Latin regula (“monastic rule”), borrowed first as a word of monastic life. The source…

It is inherited from Middle High German slieʒen, inherited from Old High German sliozan, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *sleutan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *sleutaną (“to bolt, lock”). The…

It is inherited from Middle High German schōne (“beautifully, fittingly, completely”), inherited from Old High German scōno (“beautifully”), inherited from Proto-Germanic *skaunō, originally the…

It is inherited from Middle High German schrit, inherited from Old High German scrit, inherited from Proto-Germanic *skridiz (also reconstructed as *skriþiz), an i-stem noun made in ablaut to the…

It is inherited from Middle High German schuole, inherited from Old High German scuola, borrowed from Latin schola (“lecture, school”), borrowed in the sphere of the monasteries. The Old High German…

It is inherited from Middle High German schuolære, inherited from Old High German scuolāri, an agent noun formed from Old High German scuola + -āri (the ancestor of Schule), probably under the…

It is inherited from Middle High German sēre, inherited from Old High German sēro (“painfully”), the adverb of the adjective Old High German sēr (“sad, painful”), inherited from Proto-West Germanic…

It is inherited from Middle High German sīt, inherited from Old High German sīd, inherited from Proto-Germanic *seiþiz (“later”), an old comparative adverb whose ending was regularly lost in West…

It is inherited from Middle High German sicher, inherited from Old High German sihhur, borrowed from Latin sēcūrus (“free from care, safe”), probably through a form Vulgar Latin *sicūrus. The Latin…

It is inherited from Middle High German siht, inherited from Old High German siht (“sight, appearance”), inherited from Proto-West Germanic *sihti (“seeing, sight”), an abstract noun formed from the…

It is inherited from Middle High German sunnentac, inherited from Old High German sunnūntag, a Germanic loan translation from Latin diēs Sōlis (“day of the sun”), itself a translation of Ancient…

It is inherited from Middle High German spæte, inherited from Old High German spāti, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *spādī, inherited from Proto-Germanic *spēdiz. Outside German it is found only…

It is inherited from Middle High German spil, inherited from Old High German spil, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *spil (“dance”). The word is found only in continental West Germanic: Old Saxon…

It is inherited from Middle High German spilære, inherited from Old High German spilāri (“drummer, dancer, actor, player”), a noun of agent from Old High German spil + -āri or from the verb spilōn…

It is from German Statt + finden, from the phrase stat vinden, Old High German stat findan (“to find a place”); it has been written as one word only since the 19th century. Pfeifer sees in it the…

It is inherited from Middle High German stimmen, formed from Stimme “voice”. Kluge and the Grimms' dictionary see in it a merger. On the one hand there is the verb made from the noun itself, “to…