- Reich
Audio|De-Reich-pronunciation.ogg|"Reich" (IPAEng|ˈraɪk; German IPA2|ˈʁaɪç), is a German
loanword cognate with the Englishreign ,region , andrich , but used most to designate anempire ,realm , ornation . The qualitative connotation from the German is "imperial, sovereign state." It iscognate with the Scandinavian "rike"/"rige", _nl. rijk, _sa. "raj", _en. -ric; as found in bishopric. It is the word traditionally used for a variety of sovereign entities, includingGermany in many periods of its history. It is also found in the compound " _de. Königreich", "kingdom" (Königtum), and in the country names " _de. Frankreich" (France , lit. "the Realm of theFranks "), " _de. Österreich" (Austria , the "Eastern Realm"), " _sv. Sverige" (Sweden , the "Realm of the Swedes") and in England as Surrey - Suthrige, 'southern realm'. The German version of theLord's Prayer uses the words " _de. Dein Reich komme" for " _el. ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου" (usually translated as "thy kingdom come" in English), and the Lord's Prayer in Scandinavian also uses the cognate word; so it is in Old English - 'Tobecyme thin rice'.Used adjectivally, " _de. reich" is the German word for "rich".Like its
Latin counterpart, " _la. imperium", "Reich" does not necessarily connote amonarchy ; theWeimar Republic andNazi Germany continued to use the name "Deutsches Reich ".Reich, German
The term "Reich" was part of the German names for Germany for much of its history. Reich was used by itself in the common German variant of the
Holy Roman Empire , the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" (" _de. Heiliges römisches Reich deutscher Nation"). "Der rîche" was a title for the Emperor. However, it should be noted that Latin, not German, was the formal legal language of the medieval Empire, so English-speaking historians are more likely to use Latin " _la. imperium" than German " _de. Reich" as a term for this period of German history.The unified Germany which arose under Chancellor
Otto von Bismarck in 1871 was called in German " _de. Deutsches Reich". Deutsches Reich remained the official name of Germany until 1945, although these years saw three very different political systems more commonly referred to in English as: "theGerman Empire " (1871–1918), theWeimar Republic (1919–1933; the term is a postwar coinage not used at the time), andNazi Germany (the Third Reich) (1933–1945). After 1918 "Reich" was usually not translated as "Empire" in English-speaking countries, and the title was instead simply used in its original German. During the Weimar Republic the term " _de. Reich" and the prefix " _de. Reichs-" referred not to the idea of empire but rather to the institutions, officials, affairs etc. of the whole country as opposed to those of one of its constituent federal states. "Das Reich" meant the legal persona of the (federal) State, similar to "The Crown" designating the State (and its treasury) in Commonwealth countries. The Nazis sought to legitimize their power historiographically by portraying their rule as a continuation of a Germanic past. They coined the term " _de. Das Dritte Reich" ("The Third Empire" – usually rendered in English in the partial-translation "The Third Reich"), counting the Holy Roman Empire as the first and the 1871-1918 monarchy as the second. During theAnschluss (annexation) ofAustria in 1938 the Nazi propaganda also used thepolitical slogan "EinVolk , ein Reich, einFührer " ("One people, one "Reich", one leader"). Although the term "Third Reich" is in common use, the terms "First Reich" and "Second Reich" for the earlier periods are seldom found outside Nazi propaganda. To use the terms "First Reich" and "Second Reich", as some commentators did in the post-war years, is generally frowned upon as accepting Nazihistoriography . The term " _de. Altes Reich" ("old Reich"; cf. French "ancien regime" for monarchical France) is sometimes used to refer to theHoly Roman Empire .A number of previously neutral words used by the Nazis have later taken on negative connotations in German (e.g. " _de. Führer" or " _de. Heil"); while in many contexts " _de. Reich" is not one of them ("reich", rich; "Frankreich", France), it can imply German
imperialism or strongnationalism if it is used to describe a political or governmental entity. " _de. Reich" has thus not been used in official terminology since 1945, though it is still found in the name of the Reichstag building, which since 1999 has housed the German federalparliament , theBundestag . The decision not to rename the Reichstag building was taken only after long debate in the Bundestag; even then, it is described officially as " _de. Reichstag - Sitz des Bundestages" (Reichstag, seat of the Bundestag).The exception is that during the
Cold War , the East Germanrailway incongruously continued to use the name "Deutsche Reichsbahn" (German National Railways), which had been the name of the national railway during the era of the Weimar Republic and Third Reich. This is because the Reichsbahn was specifically mentioned in several postwar treaties and directives regarding the right to operate the railroad inWest Berlin ; had the East German government changed the name of the railways to, for example, "Staatsbahn der DDR" (State Railways of the GDR), it would likely have lost this right.Fact|date=March 2007 Even afterGerman reunification in October 1990, the Reichsbahn continued to exist for over three years as the operator of the railroad in eastern Germany, ending finally on1 January 1994 when the Reichsbahn and the westernDeutsche Bundesbahn were merged to form the privatizedDeutsche Bahn AG .Rike, rige
"Rike" is the Swedish and Norwegian word for "
realm ", in Danish spelled "rige," of similar meaning as German "Reich." The word is traditionally used for sovereign entities; a country with a King or Queen ashead of state , such as theUnited Kingdom orSweden itself, is a "(kunga)rike", literally a "royal realm".The word is used in "Svea rike", with the current spelling "Sverige," the name of Sweden in Swedish. The derived prefix "riks-" implies nationwide or under central jurisdiction such as in "riksväg", the Swedish name for federal road. It is also present in the names of institutions such as the
Riksdag ,Sveriges Riksbank , Riksåklagaren, Rikspolisstyrelsen, Riksteatern,riksdaler , etc.The
Lord's Prayer uses the words in the Swedish version — "Tillkomme ditt rike" (Thy kingdom come).Rijk
"Rijk" is the Dutch equivalent of German "Reich". In a political sense in the Netherlands the word "rijk" often connotates a connection with the
Kingdom of the Netherlands ; the "ministerraad " is the executive body of theNetherlands ' government and the "rijksministerraad " that of theKingdom of the Netherlands , a similar distinction is found in "wetten" (laws) versus "rijkswetten" (kingdom laws). The word "rijk" can also be found in institutions likeRijkswaterstaat ,Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu , andRijksuniversiteit Groningen .Like in German, the adjective "rijk" means "rich".
Etymology and cognates
"Reich" comes from a Germanic word for "king", which was borrowed from Celtic. (See Calvert Watkins, "American Heritage dictionary of Indo-European Roots", p.70.) It has
cognate s in many other languages, all ultimately descended from the Proto-Indo-European root "*reg-", meaning "to straighten out" or "rule", also the source of English "right." TheSanskrit derived cognates inHindi are "Raja" meaning King and also the name of an ethnic group:Rajput meaning progeny of Rajas. The cognates can be grouped linguistically as follows:Celtic group
Proto-Celtic "*rīg-", "king", from the lengthened e-grade (see:
Indo-European ablaut ).
*Various Celtic words for "king" including Gaelic "righ".
*Borrowed into Germanic as "*rīks-". Hence::*Old High German : "richi"; _de. Reich (all senses); " _de. Reichtum" "riches"; but not the unrelated verb " _de. reichen", "to reach", or its derivative " _de. Bereich", "subject area, sphere".:*Old English: "rīce"; Modern English: "rich". :* _nl. rijk:* _da. rige (as in "Rigsmal "):*Swedish and _no. rike (as in "Riksmål "; " _sv. Sverige", "Sweden").:*Old Norse and Icelandic: "ríki" (as in "Garðaríki ").:*ManyGermanic names (personal name s), including "Friedrich", "Dietrich" and "Richard".
*Borrowed from Germanic::* _fr. riche (borrowed from Germanic):*Old Prussian: "reiks" (borrowed from Germanic):* _es. rico, "rich" (borrowed from Gothic):* _lt. rikė:*Various Slavonic words borrowed from Germanic, all loaned from Old High German dialects and include Slavonic phonetic innovations (like the change from r into ř-sound and soft Germanic "ch" into Slavonic "š" (like the "sh" in "she"). The PIE root "*reg-" (rule) is non-existent in Slavonic. There is also no native Slavic root for "king" and "kingdom" or similar words, probably because the early Slavic societies were highly democratic and ruled by an ancient form of parliament "wiec ". Hence, Slavonic words generally meaning "king" derive from the name of Charlemagne in Old French, "Karol". Similarly, the words that mean more or less the aristocratic title "prince" come from Gothic "kunings" (with many local phonetic changes, e.g. "knędz" in Old Polish, "książę" in Polish and "kniaz'" in Ruthenian).:* _pl. rzesza - nowadays often associated with "Trzecia Rzesza" (The Third Reich) in colloquial speech; second meaning: "a great group of people, throng, mob":* _cz. říše:* _sk. ríšaOriginal Germanic group
Although the line of descent of "Reich" and its closest cognates came into Germanic sideways from Celtic, Germanic also inherited the same Indo-European root directly in a suffixed form of the e-grade, "*reg-to-", hence:
*Old High German : "rihte"; Modern German "Recht", "justice"; "rechts", "right"; "richtig", "correct"; "Richter", "judge"; "Gericht", "court".
*Old English: "riht"; Modern English: "right"; "righteous".Latin
The basic e-grade form of the root came into
Latin as: " _la. regere" (supine stem " _la. rectus"), "to rule"; "rex ", " _la. regis", "king"; " _la. regalis", "kingly". A suffixed, lengthened e-grade form, "*rēg-ola-" gives us Latin " _la. regula", "rod". Hence:
* _fr. roi "king", " _fr. droit" "law, right" and many others.
* _es. rey "king"
* _pt. rei "king"
* _de. regieren "to govern, to rule", " _de. Regierung" "government", " _de. Regel" "law, rule"
*English (straight from Latin): "regent"; "regal"; "regulate"; "rector"; "rectangle"; "erect"; (borrowed via French): "royal", "reign"; "viceroy"; "realm"; "ruler" (both senses) and countless others.anskrit
The Sanskrit word, from a lengthened-grade suffixed form "*rēg-en-", is "rājā", "king", hence the words for rulers in various
Indian languages . Of interest to English speakers:Raj , used of the British rule in India; andMaharaja , literally "the great king" (exactly parallel to Latin " _la. magnus rex").References
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