Ritter

See also: ritter

English

Proper noun

Ritter

A surname from German.

Derived terms

Ritter reaction

Anagrams

triter, territ, tirret

German

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Ritter

Wikipedia

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

Proper noun

Ritter m or f (proper noun, surname, masculine genitive Ritters or (with an article) Ritter, feminine genitive Ritter, plural Ritters or Ritter)

a surname originating as an occupation

Declension

Declension of Ritter [masculine // feminine, surname]

	singular						plural
	masculine			feminine			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	(ein)	(der)	Ritter	(eine)	(die)	Ritter	(die)	Ritters, Ritter
genitive	(eines)	(des)	Ritters, Ritter¹	(einer)	(der)	Ritter	(der)	Ritters, Ritter
dative	(einem)	(dem)	Ritter	(einer)	(der)	Ritter	(den)	Ritters, Ritter
accusative	(einen)	(den)	Ritter	(eine)	(die)	Ritter	(die)	Ritters, Ritter

¹With an article.

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