An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/recht

by Friedrich Kluge

recht, adj., ‘right, just,’ from MidHG. and OHG. rëht, adj., ‘straight, right, just, correct’; common Teut. rehta-, with equiv. meaning in all the dials., Goth. raihts, OIc. réttr, AS. riht, E. right, Du. regt, OSax. reht. Lat. rectus, Zend. rā̆́šta, ‘straight, right, correct,’ are also primit. allied. This adj., which has a particip. ending to-, is usually considered to be orig. a partic. of the root rē̆́g, ‘to direct,’ in Lat. regere; with this is also connected Sans. rjú, ‘straight, correct, just,’ superlat. rájišṭha, whereby the Aryan root rē̆́g is authenticated. — In the sense of ‘to or on the right’ (the antithesis of links, ‘to or on the left’), the adj. rarely occurs in MidHG., since in the earlier period an adj. primit. allied to Lat. dexter was used (comp. Goth. taíhswa-, OHG. zëso, MidHG. zëse, ‘to or on the right’). —