right

From Middle English reȝt, right, righte, riht, riȝt, riȝte, ryght, ryȝt, from Old English reht, reoht, rieht, riht, ryht (“right,” also the word for “straight” and “direct”), from Proto-West Germanic *reht, from Proto-Germanic *rehtaz (“right, straight; just, morally upright”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵtós (“right, straightened”), from *h₃reǵ- (“to straighten; to righten”). The Germanic adjective which has been used also as a noun since the common Germanic period. Cognates Cognate with Scots richt (“right”), Yola reights, rights (“rights”), North Frisian recht, rocht, rucht (“right”), Saterland Frisian gjucht (“right”), West Frisian rjocht (“straight”), Central Franconian rääch (“right”), Dutch recht (“straight”), German recht, Recht (“right”), Limburgish réët (“right”), Luxembourgish Recht, riets (“right”), riicht (“straight”), Yiddish רעכט (rekht, “right”), Danish ret (“right”), Faroese rættur (“right”), Icelandic réttur (“right”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk rett (“right”), Swedish rät (“straight”), rätt (“right”), Gothic 𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌷𐍄𐍃 (raihts, “straight; correct”). The Indo-European root is also the source of Breton reiñ (“to give”), Cornish ri (“to give; to grant; to present”), Irish reachd, reacht (“law, statute; authority; dispensation”), Scottish Gaelic reachd (“law, right; command, power”), Welsh rhoddi, rhoi (“to give; to put”), Latin rēctus (“led straight along; correct, right; just, lawful”), Ancient Greek ὀρεκτός (orektós, “stretched out; longed for”), Latvian redzēt (“to see”), Lithuanian regėti (“to see, view”), Avestan 𐬆𐬭𐬆𐬰𐬎 (ər^əzu, “straight”), Baluchi راست (rást, “right”), Central Kurdish ڕاست (rast, “right; straight”), Northern Kurdish rast (“straight; right; true; erect; direct”), Ossetian раст (rast, “honest, true; correct; exact; straight; fair; direct”), Persian راس (rās / râs), راست (râst, “straight; direct; true; erect”), Zazaki raşt (“right; straight”), Sanskrit ऋजु (ṛju, “straight; honest, sincere”).