German words from Middle High German
799 German words with Middle High German in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages (page 12).
töten
It is inherited from Middle High German tœten (also tœden), inherited from Old High German tōden, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *daudijan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *daudijaną (“to make…
tragen
It is inherited from Middle High German tragen, inherited from Old High German tragan, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *dragan (“to haul, carry”), inherited from Proto-Germanic *draganą (“to…
treffen
It is inherited from Middle High German treffen, inherited from Old High German treffan, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *drepan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *drepaną (“to strike”). The same…
Treffen
It is inherited from Middle High German treffen (“hostile encounter, decisive blow, battle”), the infinitive of the Middle High German verb “to meet the enemy” used as a noun. Kluge dates this…
treten
It is inherited from Middle High German treten, inherited from Old High German tretan, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *tredan (“to tread”). The West Germanic strong verb is also continued in Old…
tun
It is inherited from Middle High German tuon, inherited from Old High German tuon, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *dōn, a verb found only in West Germanic: Old Saxon dōn, Old English dōn and Old…
Tür
It is inherited from Middle High German tür, inherited from Old High German turi, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *dur, inherited from Proto-Germanic *durīz (“door”). The Old High German word was…
Turnier
It is inherited from Middle High German turnier, turnîr, a back-formation from the verb turnieren (“to wheel one's horse; to take part in a tournament”), which is borrowed from Old French tornier…
über
It is inherited from Middle High German über, inherited from Old High German ubiri (“beyond, more”), inherited from Proto-Germanic *ubiri (“over, above”). In Old High German the preposition was…
übernehmen
It is inherited from Middle High German übernemen, inherited from Old High German ubarneman (“to overcome”), formed from Old High German ubar (“over”) + neman (“to take”), in today's terms über and…
überzeugen
It is inherited from Middle High German überziugen (“to testify against; to convict by witnesses”), formed from Middle High German über- + ziugen (“to testify”). The base verb is a derivative of the…
übrig
It is inherited from Middle High German überec, a derivative from Middle High German über + -ec, first in the sense “going beyond the measure”, then “left over as a remainder”; it is recorded from…
Uhr
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…
um
It is inherited from Middle High German umbe, inherited from Old High German umbi, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *umbi, inherited from Proto-Germanic *umbi (“around, about”). The same word is…
unbekannt
It is inherited from Middle High German unbekant (also unbekennet), formed from Middle High German un- + bekant (“known”). That adjective is the past participle of bekennen (“to know, recognize”)…
und
It is inherited from Middle High German unde, inherited from Old High German unti, inherited from Proto-Germanic *anþi, with the zero-grade variant *unþi. The vowel varies in Old High German…
Unfall
It is inherited from Middle High German unval (“misfortune”), which took the place of older ungeval, formed from German un- + Fall. The older word is also Middle Low German ungeval and Middle Dutch…
Universität
It is inherited from Middle High German universitēt, borrowed from Medieval Latin ūniversitās (“corporation (of masters and students)”), borrowed in the 14th century. The Latin noun meant “the…
uns
It is inherited from Middle High German uns, inherited from Old High German uns, inherited from Proto-Germanic *uns. The same word is Gothic 𐌿𐌽𐍃 (uns), beside 𐌿𐌽𐍃𐌹𐍃 (unsis, “us”), Old Norse oss, Old…
unser
It is inherited from Middle High German unser, inherited from Old High German unsēr, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *unsar, inherited from Proto-Germanic *unseraz (“our”). The same possessive is…
unter
It is inherited from Middle High German under, inherited from Old High German untar, inherited from Proto-Germanic *under (“under, among”). The same word is Gothic 𐌿𐌽𐌳𐌰𐍂 (undar), Old Norse undir…
unterstützen
It is inherited from Middle High German understützen, inherited from Old High German untarstuzzen, formed with untar (“under”) on a verb -stuzzen that occurs only with prefixes. The compound is…
Untersuchung
It is inherited from Middle High German undersuochunge, formed from German untersuchen + -ung at the end of the Middle High German period. The verb, like the noun, is first recorded in the 15th…
unterwegs
It is inherited from Middle High German underwegen, inherited from Old High German untar wegun, a phrase of unter “between, among” and the dative plural of Weg “way”, literally “between the ways, on…
ursprünglich
It is inherited from Middle High German ursprunclich, formed from Ursprung with -lich. Beside it stood ursprinclich, from the variant noun ursprinc. The noun is Old High German ursprung, beside…
Urteil
It is inherited from Middle High German urteil, inherited from Old High German urteili, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *uʀdailī (“what is handed out”), inherited from Proto-Germanic *uzdailiją…
Vater
It is inherited from Middle High German vater, inherited from Old High German fater, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *fader, inherited from Proto-Germanic *fadēr (“father”). The same word is…
verändern
It is inherited from Middle High German verendern (also verandern), a prefix derivation from German ver- + ändern that is not recorded in Old High German. The prefix hardly changed the meaning, so…
verbessern
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…
verbinden
It is inherited from Middle High German verbinden, inherited from Old High German firbintan (“to bind up, bandage”), inherited from Proto-West Germanic *frabindan, made of the prefix ver- and…
verdienen
It is inherited from Middle High German verdienen, inherited from Old High German firdionōn, a formation with the prefix ver- on dienen “to serve”. Wiktionary takes it as a calque of Latin dēserviō…
Verein
It is inherited from Middle High German vereine (“union, agreement”), a feminine noun formed from the verb vereinen (modern vereinen). In Early New High German the feminine noun is recorded in the…
verfügen
It is inherited from Middle High German vervüegen (“to fit, be proper”), formed from Middle High German ver- + vüegen (“to fit together”), the ancestor of fügen. Kluge dates the Early New High…
vergeben
It is inherited from Middle High German vergëben, inherited from Old High German firgeban, inherited from Proto-Germanic *fragebaną (“to give away, grant; to forgive”), a prefixed form of geben with…
vergessen
It is inherited from Middle High German vergezzen, inherited from Old High German firgezzan, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *fragetan. It is a West Germanic formation with the prefix ver-, found…
verhindern
It is inherited from Middle High German verhindern, inherited from Old High German firhintaren (“to cheat, defraud, withhold”): the prefix ver- added to hindern. The Grimms' dictionary notes that…
verkaufen
It is inherited from Middle High German verkoufen, inherited from Old High German firkoufen (“to sell”), from Old High German fir- + koufen (“to buy, trade”). The prefix gives the sense “to dispose…
Verkehr
It is a noun formed from the verb verkehren, first in the sense “trade, exchange of goods”. The verb is inherited from Middle High German verkēren (“to turn round, transform, distort”), formed from…
verlangen
It is late inherited from Middle High German verlangen (“to long for”), formed with the prefix ver- on langen, inherited from Old High German langēn (“to long for”). Old High German also had…
verlassen
It is inherited from Middle High German verlāzen, inherited from Old High German firlāzan (“to let go, leave, abandon”), inherited from Proto-West Germanic *fralātan, inherited from Proto-Germanic…
verletzen
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…
verlieren
It is inherited from Middle High German verliesen, inherited from Old High German firliosan, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *fraleusan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *fraleusaną (“to lose”)…
Verlust
It is inherited from Middle High German verlust, inherited from Old High German firlust, also farlust, inherited from Proto-Germanic *fralustiz (“loss, ruin”). The same word is Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌻𐌿𐍃𐍄𐍃…
Veröffentlichung
It is formed from German veröffentlichen + -ung. The verb veröffentlichen was made in the 19th century from ver- and öffentlich, as a German replacement for publizieren, and the noun replaced…
verschwinden
It is inherited from Middle High German verswinden, inherited from Old High German firswintan, formed from German ver- + schwinden. The same formation is Old Saxon farswindan, Middle Low German…
versprechen
It is inherited from Middle High German versprechen, inherited from Old High German firsprehhan (“to deny, reject; to defend”), inherited from Proto-West Germanic *frasprekan, formed with the prefix…
verstehen
It is inherited from Middle High German verstān, inherited from Old High German firstān, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *frastān, a West Germanic prefixed form of stehen with ver-. As with the…
Versuch
It is inherited from Middle High German versuoch, inherited from Old High German firsuoh (“test, proof”), a noun belonging to versuchen, Middle High German versuochen, formed with ver- from suchen…
versuchen
It is inherited from Middle High German versuochen (“to try to find out, test”), formed from German ver- + suchen. The prefix gives the verb a frequentative force, especially with an object. The…
Vertrag
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…
vertreten
It is inherited from Middle High German vertreten, inherited from Old High German firtretan (“to trample down”), inherited from Proto-West Germanic *fratredan (“to tread upon”), formed with the…
Vertreter
It is inherited from Middle High German vertreter (“protector, advocate”), recorded in late Middle High German, formed from German vertreten + -er. The verb is Old High German firtretan (“to…
verurteilen
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…
verweisen
1. The verb meaning “to rebuke” is inherited from Middle High German verwīzen, inherited from Old High German firwīzan, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *frawītan, inherited from Proto-Germanic…
verwenden
It is inherited from Middle High German verwenden (“to turn away, turn round”), inherited from Old High German firwenten (“to avert, hold back”), a prefixed form of wenten (“to turn”), the ancestor…
viel
It is inherited from Middle High German vil, inherited from Old High German filu, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *felu, inherited from Proto-Germanic *felu. The same word is Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐌻𐌿 (filu)…
vielleicht
It is inherited from Middle High German vil līhte (“very easily”), a phrase of vil (“much, very”) and līhte (“easily”), later written as one word. The same compound is found in Low German villicht…
vier
It is inherited from Middle High German vier, inherited from Old High German fior, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *feuwar, inherited from Proto-Germanic *fedwōr (“four”). The same numeral is Old…
vierte
It is inherited from Middle High German vierde, inherited from Old High German fiordo, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *feurþō, inherited from Proto-Germanic *fedurþô (“fourth”), the ordinal of…
Volk
It is inherited from Middle High German volc, inherited from Old High German folc, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *folk, inherited from Proto-Germanic *fulką (“troop, army; people”). The same…