Reich
- See Steve Reich for the composer.\n:See Wilhelm Reich for the psychologist.
Reich is the
German word for "
realm" or "
empire",
cognate with
Scandinavian rike and
Dutch rijk. It is the word traditionally used for sovereign entities, including
Germany. For instance, any country with a King or Queen as head of state, such as Britain, is a
Königreich (kingdom). It is still used as a suffix in certain country names, for instance
Frankreich (
France).
The term
Reich was part of the official names of Germany over centuries. The German name for "
Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" (mid
10th century -
1806) is
Heiliges Römisches Reich Deutscher Nation. Later,
Deutsches Reich was the official name of Germany from
1871 to
1945, although its three very different political systems are commonly referred to as the
German Empire (
1871–
1918), the
Weimar Republic (
1919–
1933), and finally the
Third Reich (Nazi Germany) (
1933–
1945).
The
Nazis, eager to present their rule as a continuation of a Germanic past, used the term
Das Dritte Reich (“The Third Reich”), counting the Holy Roman Empire as the first and the 1871 Empire as the second. They also used the
political slogan "Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer" ("One people, one country, one leader").
A number of words used by the Nazis which earlier were neutral have later taken on a negative connotation in German (e.g. Führer or Heil); the word "Reich" is usually not one of them, although in certain contexts it does carry a connotation of German
imperialism. The word is still used with the
Reichstag building, which again, since
1999, houses the German federal
parliament (today called
Bundestag), and for the old
Reichstag institution.
The
Lord's Prayer (first translated into Germanic language by Bishop
Ulfilas) uses the words in the German version
Dein Reich komme for "thy kingdom come".
Cognates
\n*Swedish:
Rike.\n*Old High German: richi\n*Anglo-Saxon: rice\n*
Dutch: rijk\n*
English: rich (compare to
commonwealth)\n*Indo European: reg\n*
Latin: regalis, regere,
rex\n*Prussian: reiks\n*
Indian:
Raj\n*
Old Norse: rike (as in Gårdarike).
Reich is also german for "rich" or "wealthy".
See also
\n* list of words of disputed pronunciation