Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/297

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these cognates with Lat. corvus, Gr. κόραξ, ‘raven,’ Lat. cornir, and Gr. κορώνη, ‘crow,’ belong to the same root; yet the Teut. form has a peculiar structure of its own, which, contrary to the usual assumption, presents some difficulties.

Rache, f., ‘revenge, vengeance,’ from MidHG. râche, OHG. râhha, f.; allied to rächen.

Rachen, m., ‘throat, jaws, abyss,’ from the equiv. MidHG. rache, OHG. rahho, m., for the earlier *hrahho; comp. AS. hraca, m., ‘throat,’ perhaps also AS. hracca, ‘back of the head, nape,’ E. rack, ‘neck of mutton’; also Du. raak, ‘back part of the palate, inner parts of the month.’ Further references for determining the origin of the word are wanting; no relation to Kragen is possible.

rächen, vb., ‘to revenge, avenge,’ from MidHG. rëcken, OHG. rëhhan, older *wrëhhan, ‘to revenge, obtain satisfaction for some one’; corresponding to Goth. wrikan, ‘to persecute,’ gawrikan, ‘to avenge,’ AS. wrëcan, ‘to drive out, revenge, chastisise’ E. to wreak, to which wreak is akin, Du. wreken, ‘to revenge,’ and wraak, wrake, f., ‘revenge,’ OSax. wrekan, ‘to chastise.’ The Teut. root wrek (comp. also Rache, Recke, Wrak) with the prim. meaning ‘to pursue, or rather expel, especially with the idea of punishment,’ is derived from a pre-Teut. wreg, werg. It is usually compared with Lat. urgeo, ‘I oppress,’ Sans. root vṛj, ‘to turn away,’ Gr. εἴργω, ‘enemy,’ Lith. rárgas, ‘distress’ (vàrgti, ‘to be in want’), which imply an Aryan root werg, wreg.

Racker, m., ‘layer, hangman's servant,’ ModHG. only; comp. Du. rakker, ‘beadle, hangman.’ Lessing suggested that it was allied to recken, ‘to put to the rack.’ It is now usually connected with LG. racken, ‘to sweep together,’ and MidLG. racker, ‘flayer, knacker, nightman.’

Rad, m., ‘wheel,’ from the equiv. MidHG. rat (gen. rades), OHG. rad, n.; corresponding to LG. and Du. rad (comp. also OFris. reth). The word is confined to MidEurop. Teut.; it is wanting in E., Scand., and Goth.; this, however, is no reason for assuming that the word is borrowed from Lat. rota. Since OHG. rad is based on pre-Teut. rotho-m, rothos, n., (Goth. *raþa-), ‘wheel,’ it is primit. cognate with the equiv. OIr. roth, m., and Lat. rota, and likewise with Lith. rátas, ‘wheel.’ The corresponding Sans. ratha-s (rathas, n. in ráthas-páti)

signifies ‘car,’ espec. ‘war chariot’ (for the root roth see under rasch), while Sans. cakra, Gr. κύκλος, corresponding to AS. hweol, E. wheel, also means ‘wheel’ in Aryan. —

radebrechen, vb., from the equiv. MidHG. radebrechen, ‘to break on the wheel, mangle,’ akin to Du. radbraken, ‘to mutilate, mangle, murder a language,’ See Achse, Lünse, Wagen.

Rädelsführer, m., ‘ringleader,’ ModHG. only, allied to Bav. Rädel (dimin. of Rad), ‘small circle of persons, ranks, dancing-song’; as to the evolution of meaning comp. E. ringleader, allied to ring.

Raden, m., ‘cockle-weed,’ from MidHG. râde, usually râte, ratte, râten, ratten, m., ‘a weed among corn,’ OHG. râto, ratto, m.; so too OLG. râda, f., ‘weed.’ In Franc. and Henneberg râdme occurs, in Swiss and Suab. ratte. Perhaps the numerous forms of this simply MidEurop. Teut. word point to a primit. G. râþwo- (prim. form rêtwo-). cognate terms in the non-Teut. languages have not yet been discovered.

Räder, m., also Rädel, ‘sieve,’ allied to MidHG. rëden, OHG. rëdan, ‘to sift, winnow.’ The Teut. stem is probably hreþ-, hence the word may be related to Lith. krétalas, ‘sieve,’ kreczù, ‘to shake’; allied also perhaps to Lat. cer-nere, ‘to sift’ (creteus, ‘sifted’).

raffen, vb., ‘to snatch, carry off suddenly,’ from MidHG. raffen, OHG. *raffôn (by chance not recorded), ‘to pluck, pull out, snatch away’; corresponding to LG. and Du. rapen, ‘to gather hastily.’ E. to raff is derived from Fr. raffer, which, like Ital. arraffare, is borrowed from HG.; on the other hand, E. to rap is primit. allied to HG. raffen. MidHG. raspôn (for rafspôn), MidHG. raspen, ‘to collect hastily,’ and Ital. arrappare, ‘to carry off,’ are also connected with the Teut. root hrap.

ragen, vb., ‘to project, stand forth,’ from MidHG. ragen (OHG. hragén), ‘to project, become rigid, be prominent’; allied to MidHG. rac, adj., ‘tense, stiff, astir’; also to AS. oferhragian, ‘to tower above’; see Rahe and regen.

Rahe, f., also Raa (under LG. and Du. influence), ‘yard’ (of a ship), from MidHG. rahe, f., ‘pole’; corresponding to Du. ra, ‘sail-yard,’ OIc. rá, f., ‘sail-yard’ (Goth. *răha, f., ‘pole’). Rahe is native, both to UpG. and LG.; comp. Bav. raχe, ‘pole.’