Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/305

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MidHG. reiger, m.; OHG. *reiar, *reijar, are by chance not recorded; comp. OSax. hreiera, Du. reiger, AS. hrâgra, m., ‘heron.’ OHG. heigir and MidHG. heiger, ‘heron,’ are abnormal forms.

Reim, m., ‘rhyme,’ from MidHG. rîm, m., ‘verse, line.’ To the assonant OHG. rîm, m., this sense is unknown; it signifies ‘row, succession, number,’ and these meanings are attached to the corresponding words in the other OTeut. dials.; comp. OSax. unrîm, ‘innumerable quantity,’ AS. rîm, ‘number.’ From these OTeut. words MidHG. rîm, ‘verse,’ must be dissociated, and connected rather with Lat. rhythmus (versus rhythmicus). The ModHG. word acquired the sense of Fr. rîme, ‘rhyme,’ in the time of Opitz. In the MidHG. period rîme binden was used for reimen, ‘to rhyme,’ and Gebäude by the Meistersingers for Reim. E. rhyme (MidE. rîme, ‘rhymed poem, poem, rhyme’) is also borrowed from OFr. rime.

rein, adj. ‘pure, clean, downright,’ from the equiv. MidHG. reine, OHG. reini, older hreini, adj.; corresponding to Goth. hrains, OIc. hreinn, OSax. hrêni, North Fris. rian, ‘pure’; in Du. and E., correspondences are wanting. The ModHG. sense (for which in Bav. and Swiss sauber is mostly used) is not found in the dials.; e.g., in Rhen.-Franc. and Swiss it signifies only ‘fine ground, sifted’ (of flour, sand, &c.), and belongs therefore to the Teut. root hrī̆, pre-Teut. krī̆, krei, ‘to winnow, sift,’ whence OHG. rîtara (see Reiter), Lat. cri-brum, Gr. κρί-νειν (for the adj. suffix -ni- see klein and schön). Hence ‘sifted’ may be assumed as the orig. sense of rein; comp. OLG. hrêncurni, ‘wheat.’

Reis (1.), m., ‘rice,’ from the equiv. MidHG. rîs, m. and n., which was borrowed from the equiv. MidLat. and Rom. rîso-, m. and n,; comp. Ital. riso, Fr. riz (whence also E. rice, Du. rijst); the latter is usually traced to Lat. and Gr. ὄρῦζον (also ὄρυζα), ‘rice,’ which is derived from Sans. vrîhi through an Iran. medium.

Reis (2.), ‘twig, sprout,’ from MidHG. rîs, OHG. rîs, earlier hris, n., ‘branch’; corresponding to Du. rijs, AS. hrîs, OIc. hrîs, m., ‘twig, branch’; Goth. *hreis, n., is wanting. The Teut. cognates (Zweig, ‘that which shakes, lives’) accord well with Goth. hrisjan, ‘to shake,’ OSax. hrissian, AS. hrissan, ‘to tremble, quake.’ —

Reisig, Reisich, n., ‘small twigs,

brushwood,’ from MidHG. rîsech, OHG. rîsach, n.; the collective of Reis (OTeut. hrîsa-).

Reise, f., ‘journey, travel, voyage,’ from MidHG. reise, f., ‘departure, march, journey, military expedition,’ OHG. reisa, f., ‘departure’; allied to OHG. rîsan, MidHG. rîsen, ‘to mount, fall,’ OSax. rîsan, ‘to rise,’ AS. rîsan, E. to rise, and the equiv. Goth. ur-reisan. The idea of vertical, and espec. of upward motion, thus belongs every where to the root rī̆s; therefore Reise is lit. ‘departure.’ Further, MidHG. and ModHG. reisen is a derivative of the subst.; comp. also with the root rī̆s, E. to raise and (by the change of s into r) to rear.

Reisige, m., ‘trooper, horseman,’ from MidHG. reiec, adj., ‘mounted.’ —

Reisigen, pl., ‘horsemen,’ usually connected with MidHG. reise, ‘military expedition,’ yet it may be also a derivative of rîten, ‘to ride,’ since OHG. rîso, ‘horseman,’ occurs (rîþtan- gives rîssan-, rîsan-).

reißen, vb., ‘to tear, drag; sketch,’ from MidHG. rîȥen, OHG. rîȥan, earlier *wrîȥan, ‘to tear, tear in pieces, scratch, write’; corresponding to OSax. wrftan, ‘to tear in pieces, wound, write,’ AS. wrîtan, E. to write, OIc. ríta, ‘to write’; Goth. *wreitan, ‘to rend, write,’ is wanting, but is implied by Goth. writs, ‘streak, point.’ The various meanings of the cognates are explained by the manner in which runes were written or scratched on beech twigs. The Teut. root writ, which has been preserved also in ModHG. Riß, Ritz, ritzen, and reizen, has not yet been found in the non-Teut. languages.

reiten, vb., ‘to ride,’ from MidHG. rîten, OHG. rîtan, ‘to move on, set out, drive, ride’; corresponding to Du. rijden, ‘to ride, drive, skate,’ AS. rîdan, E. to ride, OIc. ríða, ‘to ride, travel; swing, hover.’ These words are based on the common Teut. rîdan, with the general sense of continued motion. This, as well as the fact that in Teut. there is no vb. used exclusively for ‘to ride,’ makes it probable that the art of riding is comparatively recent. Besides, in the allied languages no single term expresses this idea. It is also known that the art among the Greeks appears after the time of Homer, and that it was still unknown to the Indians of the Rig-Veda. It is true that the Teutons are known to us as horsemen from their earliest appearance in history, but the evolu-