Talk:Anglish wordbook/R

Rike Reach?

(I'm better at reading than writing Anglish, so I'll write this in standard English).

I suggest that rike for country/state should be replaced with reach on a number of grounds:

1. It is easier to understand (for the man on the street). It is a straightforward extension of the sense of an existing word, which is preferrable IMO. Reach used in this way is very similar to the latin imperium.

2. This is closer to what OE rice actually sounded like, and note that it's only surviving descendant in standard english is rich.

3. While not a direct descendant like Middle English rike, it is etymologically related, comming from OE raecan, which obviously comes from the same root. Likewise Rike is cognate to Swedish Rike, Dutch Rijk and German Reich, true, but reach is again closely related to these, being cognate to Dutch reiken and German reichen.

4. (Maybe this should be number one!) It is already used in this way! Several kingdoms/regions in fantasy literature, etc. are named 'The Reach' or similar. E.g. 'The Reach' in Skyrim, 'The Reach' in Game of Thrones.