Meerrettich

German

Etymology

From Middle High German merretich, from Old High German meriratih. Equivalent to Meer (“sea”) +‎ Rettich (“radish”), from the use of Meer to mean “foreign”, as also in Meerkatze, Meerschweinchen. The fact that horseradish is most often eaten in Germany with fish is coincidental, though speakers may make that connection.

Alternative etymologies suggest that the first part of the compound is mehr (“more”, here in the sense of “greater, bigger”) or Mähre (“mare, horse”). However, the Old High German spellings clearly support the first-mentioned derivation. Eventually, this compound may go back to a phono-semantic matching of Latin armoracia.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈmeː(r)ˌrɛtɪç/, [ˈmeː(ɐ̯)ˌʁɛtɪç]
  • Audio(file)

Noun

Meerrettich m (strong, genitive Meerrettichs, plural Meerrettiche)

  1. horseradish
  2. a white condiment or sauce made from horseradish, oil, vinegar, and often cream

Declension
Declension of Meerrettich [masculine, strong]
singular plural
indef. def. noun def. noun
nominative ein der Meerrettich die Meerrettiche
genitive eines des Meerrettichs der Meerrettiche
dative einem dem Meerrettich den Meerrettichen
accusative einen den Meerrettich die Meerrettiche

Synonyms
  • Kren (Austria, Bavaria, and parts of southern Germany)

Further reading
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