Rhenish, a. and n.
(ˈrɛnɪʃ)
Forms (formerly often with lower-case initial): 4 Raynysh, Rynys, -is, Rinische, Renys(s, -is, -yche, 5 Reynyssh, Rynisch, -yssh(e, 6 Reinnishe, Reinish, Rennish, Rheynisshe, 6–7 Renish, 7 Reanish, Rhinish, Rhennish, 6– Rhenish. β. Sc. 5 Rynche, Ryns, 6 Rens, Ranche.
[Orig. partly a. or ad. OF. rinois, rynois, rainois, AF. reneis (from 13th c.):—med.L. type Rhēnensis, f. Rhēnus; partly ad. continental Germanic forms (MHG. rînisch, G. rheinisch, also monosyllabic MHG., MLG. rînsch, MDu. rijnsch, rinsch, rijns, Du. rijnsch): see -ish. The mod. spelling is due to L. Rhēnus or early mod. Eng. Rhene, = Rhine3.]
A. adj.
1. a. Of or belonging to the river Rhine, or the regions bordering upon it; used esp. in Archæol. to designate a type of pottery made in the Rhineland in the Roman period.
| 1545 Rates Custome Ho., Glasses, Reinish. 1676 Phil. Trans. XI. 587 As green as the Rhinish glasses were here⁓tofore tinged. 1837 Alison Hist. Europe (1847) III. 348 Soldiers trained in the regular wars on the Rhenish frontier. 1866 Bryce Holy Rom. Emp. viii, The three Rhenish archbishops. 1954 M. Wheeler Rome beyond Imperial Frontiers (1955) i. iv. 48 One was a black-glazed Rhenish beaker of familiar late type. 1955 I. A. Richmond Roman Brit. iv. 177 Production of Samian ware was brought to an end by the invasion of Gaul in the later third century... The gap was filled by..an increasing volume of imports of Rhenish glass-ware and Rhenish glazed pottery decorated with white slip. Ibid. 179 Rhenish pottery..comprises jugs, beakers, and vases. The fabric is thin, with a highly-polished dark colour coating, usually ornamented in simple running scrolls or medallions in white slip. 1957 Archaeologia æliana XXXV. 187 (heading) Narrow-mouthed beakers in Rhenish ware. 1964 G. Webster Romano-British Coarse Pottery (Council for Brit. Archaeol. Research Rep. No. 6) 7 Rhenish ware, pottery from the Rhineland imported into Britain during the late second century and later. |
† b. Applied to the gulden formerly current in Germany and the Netherlands.
Obs. Cf. MDu. rijnsch gulden,
MLG. rinsche gulden.
| 1479 in Cely Papers (1900) 19, xxx Rynysche iiijs iiij{supd} sum..vjli xvs fls. c 1485 [see guilder]. 1617 Moryson Itin. i. 286 A Rhenish Gold Gulden was worth seuen and twenty silver Groshen. 1756–7 [see guilder]. 1787 Maty tr. Riesbeck's Trav. through Germany III. 194 One million one hundred and fifty thousand Rhenish guilders, or about one hundred and fifteen thousand pounds. |
c. = Rhineland.
| 1832 Encycl. Amer. XI. 11 Rhenish or Rhinland Foot. 1858 Homans Cycl. Commerce 1949/1 Engineers and surveyors use the Rhenish foot and inch. |
2. Rhenish wine: wine produced in the Rhine region; Rhine wine.
| 1375–6 Durh. Acc. Rolls 582 Ryniswyne. Ibid., Rinischewyn. 1390–1 Earl Derby's Exp. (Camden) 80 Pro xij stopis de Rynyswyn. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 203 Rynisch wyne and Rochelle, richere was neuer. c 1490 Paston Lett. III. 364, I sen my lady a lytyll pes of Renysch wyne of the best. 1528 Paynell Salerne's Regim. R ij, Mustis, that haue bytynge lies, as moche reinnishe muste. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. i. ii. 104 A deepe glasse of Reinish-wine. 1607 Englishman's Docter in Regimen Salern. (1830) 133 New Rhennish-wine stirs vrine. 1660 Bk. Rates (Act 12 Car. II, c. 4), Rhinish wines brought into any Port the Awme, j li. 1787 Maty tr. Riesbeck's Trav. through Germany III. 189 The little village of Hocheim, from whence the English give all kinds of Rhenish wine the name of Hock. 1840 L. Playfair Liebig's Org. Chem. 287 The aroma which distinguishes Rhenish wine. 1972 Guardian 30 Nov. 15/4 Of the rich Rhenish wines, the Alsatian Traminer and Gewurztraminer are becoming popular. |
| attrib. 1700 Congreve Way of the World iii. i. F 4 b, That goodly Face, which in defiance of her Rhenish-wine Tea, will not be comprehended in a Mask. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) II. 291 The Underleaf [apple] hath a Rhenish-Wine flavour. |
| β 1468 Burgh Rec. Edin. (1869) 23 Rynche wyne. 1546 Ibid. (1871) 125 The Rens wyne xxti d. the pynt. 15.. Aberd. Reg. (Jam.), Ane greit peis of Rance wyne. |
3. Rhenish stoneware, stoneware manufactured in the Rhineland, usually salt-glazed.
| 1925 B. Rackham tr. E. Hannover's Pott. & Porc. I. iii. 197 The manufacture of stoneware [in Germany] was confined to certain districts; its centre was for centuries the Rhineland from Coblenz to Cologne. Its present designation ‘Rhenish stoneware’ is, however, of comparatively recent date. 1974 Savage & Newman Illustr. Dict. Ceramics 245 Rhenish stoneware, saltglazed stoneware made in the Rhineland from the latter part of the Middle Ages, but principally in the 16th and 17th centuries, at a number of centres, the largest of which was Cologne. It was exported in great quantities at the time, and imitated extensively in the 19th century. It is especially noted for relief work. |
4. Rhenish fan, a fan-shaped bundle of isoglosses in the Rhine valley, separating Low from High German.
| 1933 L. Bloomfield Language xix. 343 Some forty kilometers east of the Rhine the isoglosses of the great bundle that separates Low German and High German begin to separate and spread out northwestward and southwestward, so as to form what has been called the ‘Rhenish fan’. 1961 R. E. Keller German Dialects 249 The Rhenish Fan..was seen as the result of a linguistic thrust from south to north along the River Rhine. 1977 Word 1972 XXVIII. 233 The ‘Rhenish fan’ has its counterpart in the isoglottic bundles separating North and South Wales. |
B. n. Rhenish wine. Now
rare. Also
attrib.| [1596 Shakes. Merch. V. iii. i. 44 There is more difference betweene..your bloods, then there is betweene red wine and rennish.] 1602 ― Ham. i. iv. 10 As he dreines his draughts of Renish downe. 1638 T. Whitaker Blood of Grape 52 Adolescency..may not feare either White, Claret, or Rhenish. 1685–8 Dryden Let. to Sir G. Etherege 45 Then Rhenish rummers walk the round, In bumpers every king is crowned. 1756 Johnson Let. to Miss Boothby 3 Jan., I took Rhenish and water, and recovered my voice. 1820 Keats Eve of St. Agnes xxxix, Drown'd all in Rhenish and the sleepy mead. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth v, If sack, or rhenish, or wine of Gascony can serve, why, say the word. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 331 What say you, good masters, to..a medlar tansy and a flagon of old Rhenish? 1970 M. Kelly Spinifex i. 24 Letting the chilled Rhenish dissolve a hard, nervy lump inside. |