Ritter

See also: ritter

German

Etymology

From Middle High German ritter, from Middle Dutch ridder, Flemish byform of rîder, from rîden + -er (equivalent to German reiten +‎ -er).

In Middle High German, both ritter and rīter (whence modern Reiter) were used in the sense of “horseman”, “mounted man-at-arms”, as well as for the (emerging) rank of “knight”, and, by generalisation, any member of the lower nobility. Gradually, both forms were separated semantically (a vocabulary of 1487 has two distinct entries: miles: ritter vs. equester: reitter), and in early modern German a third (similar, though unrelated) form Reuter, from Dutch, was introduced. In this period, Ritter was the term for the class of the German lower nobility, Reuter was the normal word for a cavalryman, and Reiter was rare but sometimes used for “horseman”. From the 18th century, Ritter was gradually replaced by Kavalier, especially with individual noblemen, whereas the collective Ritterschaft remained in use for the class as a whole. Accordingly, Ritter becomes increasingly limited to the historic or romantic/poetic “medieval knight”.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈʁɪtɐ/
Audio (Germany) (file)
Audio (Austria) (file)

Noun

Ritter m (strong, genitive Ritters, plural Ritter, feminine Ritterin)

knight

1918, Meinrad Lienert, Zürcher Sagen:
Endlich erschien eines Tages ein wohlgewappneter Ritter und schwor, dass er den Kampf mit dem Drachen aufnehmen wolle.
Finally one day a well-armed knight appeared, who swore that he would take up arms against the dragon.

Declension

Declension of Ritter [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Ritter	die	Ritter
genitive	eines	des	Ritters	der	Ritter
dative	einem	dem	Ritter	den	Rittern
accusative	einen	den	Ritter	die	Ritter

Derived terms

Arme Ritter
Deutschordensritter
Deutschritter
Glücksritter
Grabesritter
Gralsritter
Jediritter, Jedi-Ritter
Johanniterritter, Johanniter-Ritter
Kolumbusritter, Kolumbus-Ritter
Konjunkturritter
Kreuzritter
Malteserritter, Malteser-Ritter
Minneritter
Ordensritter
Privilegienritter
Raubritter
Reichsritter
Reichsritteraufstand
Ritterakademie
Ritteranolis
Ritteraufstand
Ritterbank
Ritterbund
Ritterburg
Ritterdichtung
Ritterdienst
Ritterdrama
Ritteressen
Ritterfalter
Ritterfestspiel
Ritterfrau
Ritterfräulein
Rittergeschichte
Rittergewand
Rittergrundel
Rittergut
Rittergutsbesitzer
ritterhaft
Ritterhaftigkeit
Ritterin
Ritterkampf
Ritterkampfspiel
Ritterkreuz
Ritterkreuzträger
Ritterkrieg
Ritterlehen
ritterlich
Ritterling
rittern
Ritter ohne Furcht und Tadel
Ritterorden
Ritterroman
Ritterrunde
Ritterrüstung
Rittersaal
Ritterschaft
ritterschaftlich
Ritterschlag
Ritterschwert
Rittersfrau
Rittersitz
Rittersmann
Ritterspiel
Rittersporn
Ritterstand
Ritterstern
Rittersteuer
Ritterstraße
Ritterstück
Rittertafel
Rittertaube
Rittertum
Ritter-und-Räuber-Roman
Ritterwanze
Ritterwesen
Ritterwürde
Ritterzeit
Ritterzug
Römerritter
Strauchritter
Tempelritter

References

“Ritter” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.
“Ritter” in Duden online
“Ritter” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache