An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/dichten

by Friedrich Kluge

dichten, verb, ‘to invent, imagine, write, fabricate,’ from Middle High German tihten, ‘to write, draw up (in writing), compose, invent, excogitate’; the Modern High German meaning is very much restricted compared with the fulness of Middle High German. Even in the 16th and 17th centuries Dichter (Middle High German tihtœre) meant generally ‘writer, author,’ and was applied to the prose writer as well as the poet. The origin of dichten (Old High German tihtôn, ‘to write, compose’), from Latin dictare, ‘to dictate,’ late Latin also ‘to compose,’ may have favoured the change from tichten to dichten; Anglo-Saxon dihtan, which is of the same origin, has the further signification ‘to arrange, array.’