† rechv.

Etymology: Cognate with Middle Dutch recken to stretch (a limb) out, to stretch, to increase the length of (a thing), to reach, to prolong, to extend, to torture (a person) by stretching the joints, etc. (Dutch rekken to stretch, to straighten, to reach, get to (a place), to run, to prolong, to extend, etc.), Old Saxon rekkian to narrate (Middle Low German recken to stretch, to stretch (a limb) out, to increase the length of (a thing), to suffice, to reach out, to extend, to get to (a place), to obtain, to last, to hand over), Old High German recchen , rechen , recken , reken to stretch, extend, to unfold, to give, to last, to raise, to project, to produce, to devise, to carry out, to explain (Middle High German recken to raise, stretch out, to produce, to extend, etc., German recken to stretch), Old Icelandic rekja to spread out, unfold, to discharge, to trace, Old Swedish räkkia to reach, to get to, to stretch (Swedish räcka to hand, to reach, to stretch, to suffice, to last, to extend, etc.), Old Danish række to stretch out, to reach (Danish række ), Gothic -rakjan (in ufrakjan to stretch out), probably ultimately < an ablaut variant (o -grade) of the same Indo-European base as ancient Greek ὀρέγειν to stretch out, classical Latin regere to direct (see regent adj.).The Germanic base was perhaps originally a causative formation in sense ‘to cause to be straight’ or the like (compare sense 2 for a figurative development of this) and thence ‘to stretch, to stretch out’. The latter sense, which appears to have been the core meaning in Germanic and is well attested for the cognates, is rare in English (compare sense 1); however, its history after Old English may be obscured by a partial merger with reach v.¹ (see below). Sense 3 probably developed from the sense ‘to get to’, attested, for example, in Dutch and Middle Low German; compare the similar development of rake v.¹ 2 and also reach v.¹ 13. Senses 4 and 5 probably developed by metaphor from the sense ‘to unfold', attested, for example, in Old High German and Old Icelandic (for a similar development compare explicate v.); compare also Old High German rahhon (see rake v.¹) and Old English racu (see rake n.³). In Middle English, this word is difficult to distinguish in form from reach v.¹, with which it shares some senses in common (compare senses 1 and 3a); compare also later retch v.¹ The β. forms of the present stem at reach v.¹ may partly represent the reflex of Old English reccan (see discussion at reach v.¹). Moreover, since the present-stem δ. forms at reach v.¹ are apparently inferred from a past tense form that could formally be interpreted as belonging instead to rech v., they could be taken as belonging at this entry instead, so that, in some senses (especially senses 1 and 3a), the two verbs may to some extent be said to have merged. The expected past tense and past participle forms in Old English are West Saxon reahte , gereaht (with breaking), Anglian ræhte , geræht (with smoothing); with the stem-final consonant group ht compare α. forms of past tense at reach v.¹ and see discussion at that entry. The frequency of the forms rehte , gereht in Old English apparently indicates that the vowel of the present stem (which shows i-mutation) was extended to the past tense and past participle. In Old English the prefixed form gereccan (compare y- prefix) is also attested; compare also areccan arecche v., andreccan to relate (compare and- prefix), ætreccan to declare forfeit (compare at- prefix²), bereccan to clear, exculpate (compare be- prefix), gerihtreccan to guide, show rightly (compare y- prefix, right adv.), oferrecchan to confuse, to convince, to convict (compare over- prefix), ūpreccan to erect (compare up- prefix), ūpareccan to erect, raise, to build (compare up- prefix, a- prefix¹).