Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/12/15
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 02:11 PM 12/15/1999 -0500, Martin Howard wrote: >The Swedish "rike" (pronounced "reak-eh") has the same root. "Rike" is >closer to "realm", "state", or "nation" rather than territory per se. >Variations of the word also deal with wealth or affluence. My feeling >(based upon 28 years of speaking English and 27 of Swedish) is that it is >probably closer to an English "national realm" more than anything else. "Reich" comes into English as the suffix "-ric" as in "bishopric", which confirms your point neatly. And it clearly has a monarchical connexion, which is why its retention by the Weimar Republic is a bit odd. In fact, the German Empire had a "Reichstag" for the lower house of the legislature but a "Bundesrat" (federal council) for the upper house. The Weimar Republic had a "Reichstag" and a "Reichsrat", where the current German Bundesrepublik has a "Bundestag" and a "Bundesrat". Marc msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315 Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!