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Theodoric

masc. proper name, from Late Latin Theodoricus, from Gothic, literally "ruler of the people," from Gothic þiuda "people" (see Teutonic) + *reiks "ruler" (see Reich). For spelling, see Theobald. The French form of the name, via the Franks, is Thierry.

Entries related to theodoric

Teutonic (adj.)
1610s, "of or pertaining to the Germanic languages and to peoples or tribes who speak or spoke them," from Latin Teutonicus, from Teutones, Teutoni, name of a tribe that inhabited coastal Germany near the mouth of the Elbe and devastated Gaul 113-101 B.C.E., probably via Celtic from Proto-Germanic *theudanoz, from PIE root *teuta- "tribe."

Used in English in anthropology to avoid the modern political association of German; but in this anthropological sense French uses germanique and German uses germanisch, because neither uses its form of German for the narrower national meaning (compare French allemand, for which see Alemanni; and German deutsch, under Dutch). In Finnish, Germany is Saksa "Land of the Saxons."

The Teutonic Knights (founded c.1191) were a military order of German knights formed for service in the Holy Land, but who later crusaded in then-pagan Prussia and Lithuania. The Teutonic cross (1882) was the badge of the order.
Reich (n.)
German, "kingdom, realm, state," from Old High German rihhi "realm," from Proto-Germanic *rikja "rule" (source also of Old Norse riki, Danish rige, Old Frisian and Middle Dutch rike, Dutch rijk, Old English rice, Gothic reiki), from PIE root *reg- "move in a straight line," with derivatives meaning "to direct in a straight line," thus "to lead, rule." Don Ringe, "From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic" [Oxford 2006] identifies it as a Celtic loan-word in Germanic rather than a direct evolution from PIE, based on the vowel. Used in English from 1871-1945 to refer to "the German state, Germany." Most notoriously in Third Reich (see third); there never was a First or Second in English usage.

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Dictionary entries near Theodoric

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