used regularly in modern German in the diminutive form: "das Märchen" Agreed. That word is used and everyone knows it. "Maer" as an actual word. Very much not

used regularly in modern German in the diminutive form: "das Märchen" Agreed. That word is used and everyone knows it. "Maer" as an actual word. Very much not so. I did not make the connection actually although your explanation makes perfect sense for the origin of Maerchen. lobebæren You can immediately see the relationship to the noun "[das] Lob" I did not see that at all and I do not think I'm the only one. Now, once you've told me, I can totally see it. This is exactly my point about not being able to just listen to this or read it and understand right away. I have to stop and think and look stuff up. The word "der Recke" [valiant] is a (slightly old-fashioned) word that does exist in modern German. I never said the word does not exist. Just that, like you also mention, it's old (fashioned) and not in very active use and I do not expect many kids these days to recognize the word. If you read slightly older books about knights and such for boys with a bunch of "kuehne Recken", sure. Otherwise: doubtful in my opinion. If you are used to the lyrics of the Lohengrin opera That's also part of my point. If you're into poems, especially old ones, you'll have a better time. If you're "poem blind" like me, there's no way I can just have someone read the Niebelungenlied in the original to me and understand what's going on. No I am not used to Lohengrin type lyrics. As for using Streit as a noun, yes, no problem there, though the fact that there's no proper capitalization in the Niebelungenlied text does not help to figure that out. I immediately read it as "streiten" the verb only.