Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/303

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exile, unfortunate wretch,’ whence E. wretch. These interesting West Teut. cognates implying Goth. *wrakja are connected with ModHG. rächen, Goth. wrikan, ‘to persecute.’ ModHG. elend has a somewhat similar development.

recken, vb., ‘to stretch, rack, reach forth,’ from MidHG. ręcken, OHG. ręcchen, ‘to stretch out, extend,’ corresponding to Du. rekken, ‘to stretch out,’ whence E. to rack is borrowed, Goth. uf-rakjan, ‘to stretch out,’ to which Goth. rahtôn, ‘to proffer.’ From Teut. is derived Ital. recare, ‘to bring.’ The assumed direct connection between the common Teut. vb. and Goth. rikan, ‘to collect,’ lit. ‘to scrape together,’ must on account of the meaning be abandoned in favour of its relation to Lith. rążau, rążyti, ‘to stretch,’ Lat. por-rigo, ‘I stretch,’ and Gr. ὀρέγειν, ‘to stretch.’

Rede, f., ‘speech, discourse, oration,’ from MidHG. ręde, OHG. rędia, ręda, f., ‘account, speech and reply, speech, narrative, information’; corresponding to OSax. ręðia, f., ‘account,’ Goth. raþjô, f., ‘account, bill, number’; to this is allied Goth. garaþjan, ‘to count,’ and further the phonetic equivalent Lat. ratio, ‘computation, account, number,’ &c. From the same Teut. root raþ (pre-Teut. rat), signifying ‘number,’ hund-ert (which see) is derived. —

reden, vb., ‘to speak, talk, converse,’ from the equiv. MidHG. ręden, OHG. rędiôn, rędôn, also OHG. rędinôn, just as in the case of OHG. rędia the equiv. variant rędina occurs (comp. OSax. ręðion, ‘to speak’); from this OHG. rędinôn, is derived OHG. rędinâri, MidHG. rędenœre, ModHG. Redner, ‘orator.’

redlich, adj., ‘honest, candid,’ from MidHG. rędelîch, ‘eloquent, intelligent, upright, sturdy,’ OHG. rędilîh, ‘intelligent’; allied to OHG. rędia, MidHG. ręde, ‘understanding, account.’ See Rede.

Reff (1.), n., ‘dosser, framework of staves for carrying on the back,’ from the equiv. MidHG. rëf, n., OHG. rëf, n., for earlier Goth. *hrip; comp. OIc. hrip, n., ‘wooden frame for carrying coals or peat,’ MidE. and E. rip, ‘fish-basket.’ To the assumption that the word is primit. akin to Lat. corbis, ‘basket,’ there is no phonetic objection (see Korb and Krebe), yet the Alem. variants seem to imply a Teut. primary form *hrëfo-.

Reff (2.), n., also Reef, n., ‘reef,’ ModHG. only, a nautical term borrowed from

LG.; comp. Du. and E. reef, also Du. reven, ‘to reef a sail.’ It is noteworthy that in OIc. rif, ‘rib,’ is used in the same sense. OIc. rifa, ‘to tack together,’ is probably most closely connected with the cognates.

reffen, vb., ‘to hatchel hemp or flax,’ from MidHG. reffen (a variant of raffen), ‘to tug, pluck.’ The ModHG. sense is probably based on a LG. word. Comp. Du. repel, ‘breaking flax,’ repelen, ‘to break flax,’ E. ripple, ‘hatchel.’

rege, adj., ‘astir, lively, active,’ ModHG. only; see regen.

Regel, f., ‘rule, regulation, principle,’ from MidHG. rëgel, rëgele, OHG. rëgula, f., ‘rule, especially of an order’; borrowed in this latter sense during the OHG. period when the monastic system was adopted (see Kloster, Münster, Abt, and Mönch), from Lat. rëgula, pronounced rĕgula in MidLat. (Lat. ê would be changed into OHG. î, see Feier, Kreide, and Pein). This pronunciation is also implied by AS. rĕgul, m., and OFr. riule, ‘rule’ (E. rule, from MidE. reule, is derived from OFr. reule, Lat. regula).

Regen, m., from the equiv. MidHG. rëgen, OHG. rëgan, m., ‘rain’; common to Teut. in the same sense; comp. the corresponding Goth. rign, n., OIc. regn, n., AS. rëgn, m., E. rain, Du. regen, OSax. rëgan. Primit, Teut. regna-, from pre-Teut. *reghno-, probably represents *mreghno-, if the word be connected with Gr. βρέχειν (for μρεχ-, μβρεχ-), ‘to wet’; Lat. rĭgare, ‘to water, wet,’ may belong to the same Aryan root mregh, The compound Regenbogen is found in all the Teut. languages; MidHG. rëgenboge, OHG. rëganbogo (Du., however, waterboog), E. rainbow, from AS. rëgnboga, OIc. regnboge, Goth. *rìgnbuga.

regen, vb., ‘to stir up, move, excite,’ from MidHG. ręgen, ‘to cause to project, set up, excite, move, awaken,’ a factitive of MidHG. rëgen, ‘to rise, tower,’ hence primit. allied to ragen. Akin also to MidHG. rœhe, ‘rigid, stiff.’ The Teut. root rag, rē̆h, of these cognates has not yet been found in the allied languages. See rege.

Reh, n., ‘roe, deer,’ from the equiv. MidHG. rêck (gen. rêhes), OHG. rêf (gen. rêhes), n.; the stem raiha- is common to Teut.; comp. Du. ree, AS. râhdeór, E. roe, OIc. rá; Goth. *ráih is by chance not recorded. Allied also to OHG. and OLG. rêho, m. (like AS. râ, m., from *râha), ‘roe,’ and reia (AS. rœ̂ge). f., ‘caprea’; for another fem. form see Ricke. Teut. raiha- from