Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/215

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MidHG. krût, n., ‘small foliated plant, herb, vegetable,’ espec. ‘cabbage,’ OHG. krût, OSax. crûd; Du. kruid, n., ‘herb, spice, gunpowder’ (the last meaning is also found in MidHG. from the 14th cent.); MidE. crûdewain (Du. kruidwagen), ‘ammunition waggon,’ seems to have been borrowed. Goth. *krûþ (gen. *krûdis), n., might be taken for krû-da-, with the suffix da- from tó (Aryan grû-tó-). Gr. γρύτη, ‘lumber, trash,’ does not agree in meaning. Perhaps the word should be connected rather with the Gr. root βρυ- for gru; comp. βρύω, ‘to swell,’ ἔμβρυον, ‘embryo,’ βρύον, ‘moss.’ From G. is derived Fr. choucroute, m., ‘pickled cabbage.’

Krebs, m., ‘crayfish,’ from the equiv. MidHG. krëbeȥe, krëbeȥ, OHG. chrëbiȥ, chrëbaȥo, m.; comp. Du. kreeft, m., ‘crayfish’; allied to LG. Krabbe. The G. word passed at an early period into Rom. (comp. Fr. écrevisse, ‘cray fish,’ and crevette, ‘shrimp’). It is not connected with Gr. κάραβος, but rather with OHG. chrâpfo, ‘hook’; Krebs, lit. ‘hooked or claw fish’?. See Krapfen (2).

Kreide, f., ‘chalk,’ from the equiv. MidHG. krîde, late OHG. krîda, f.; ultimate source Lat. crêta, f., ‘Cretan earth’ The change from Lat. ê to HG. î cannot be explained by the ModGr. pronunciation of Crete (comp. MidHG. Krîde, Scand. Krít, ‘Crete’), since there are other instances in which Lat. ê appears in HG. loan-words,, as î; comp. Feier, and espec. Seide. Besides, the word crêta, ‘Cretan earth,’ is unknown to. Gr. The more precise history of the adoption of HG. krîda is obscure (the corresponding words in Rom. are Ital. creta and Fr. craie).

Kreis, m., ‘circle, orbit, sphere,’ from MidHG. kreiȥ, m., ‘circumference, circuit, division of a country district’; OHG. chreiȥ, pointing to Goth. *kraits, and D, krijt to. Goth. *kreits, Comp. MidHG. krîȥen (MidG.), ‘to make a circle.’ The word cannot be traced beyond G.; it is not allied to Kranz and Kring. Comp. kritzeln.

kreischen, vb., ‘to shriek,’ from MidHG. krîschen, ‘to screech, shriek’; OHG. *chrîskan and Goth. *kreiskan are wanting. MidHG. krîȥen, ‘to shriek’ (Goth. *kreitan), points to the fact that a dental (Goth. t) has been lost before the suffix sk of kreischen, just as a guttural has been dropped in forschen, OHG. forskôn. Comp. Du. krijschen, ‘to shriek, yell’ Comp. kreisen.

Kreisel, see Kräusel.

kreisen, kreißen, vb., ‘to be in labour,’ from MidHG. krîȥen, ‘to screech, shriek, groan’; comp. Du. krijten, ‘to shriek, shout.’ For further cognates see kreischen; akin also to MidHG. krîsten, earlier ModHG. kreisten, ‘to groan.’

Kreppel, see Kräppel.

Kresse (1.), f., ‘cress, from the equiv. MidHG. kręsse, OHG. chręsso, m., chressa, f.; corresponding to Du. kers, kors, f., AS. cœrse, f., E. cress. This word, which is probably peculiar to West Teut., found its way to the North—Dan. karse, Swed. krasse, Lett. kresse; it was also adopted by the Rom. languages — Fr. cresson, Ital. crescione. The assumption that the Rom. words contain the orig. form is opposed by the early appearance of the term in the old West Teut. languages. It is true that no plausible explanation of OHG. chręsso (Goth. *krasja?) has been put forward; OHG. chrësan, MidHG. krësen, krîsen, ‘to crawl,’ seems unrelated.

Kresse (2.), f., ‘gudgeon,’ from the equiv. MidHG. kresse, OHG. chresso, m. Different from Kresse (1). The fish is thus named only in G., and hence the term is not diffused in West Teut. like the preceding word.

Kretschem, Kretscham, m., from the equiv. MidHG. kretschem, kretscheme, m., ‘village tavern,’ a Slav. loan-word; Bohem. krčma, Wend. korčma, Pol. karczma, ‘tavern.’

Kreuz, n., ‘cross,’ from the equiv. MidHG. kriuz, kriuze, n., OHG. chrûzi, n.; from Lat. crŭci- (dat. cruci, acc. crucem), with change of vowel quantity in the stem as in Leier, Lilie, and Litze, and also of gender (comp. Abt, Orden, and Pech). The change of medial c in the Lat. word to HG. tz, though in another group of (older) loan-words Lat. c, even before open vowels, appears as k in HG. and Teut., is due to the fact that words like Keller and Kaiser were introduced into Germany at a far earlier period than Kreuz, which was adopted with Christianity in the 8th and 9th cents. The Goths used Teut. Galgen (Goth. galga), the English of the earliest period, rood (comp. Rute). The loanword is now found in all the Mod. Teut. languages — Ic. kross, Swed. and Dan. kors, Du. kruis, E. cross.

Kreuzer, m., ‘kreutzer’ (about $\scriptstyle {\frac {1}{3}}$d.), from MidHG. kriuzer, kriuzœre, m., a small coin, orig. marked with a cross (MidHG. kriuze), ‘kreutzer.’