An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/kraft

by Friedrich Kluge

kraft, preposition ‘in virtue of,’ properly dative singular of the preceding word, originally combined with the preps. aus or in. Middle High German kraft, with the genitive of a noun, is often simply a pleonasm for the noun itself — hôher wunne kraft for hôhiu wunne, ‘great bliss’; ûȥ zornes kraft, ‘in anger.’