Ritter

Etymology
From, from , Flemish byform of , from +  (equivalent to German ).

In Middle High German, both and  (whence modern ) were used in the sense of “horseman”, “mounted man-at-arms”, as well as for the (emerging) rank of “knight”, and, by generalisation, any member of the lower nobility. Gradually, both forms were separated semantically (a vocabulary of 1487 has two distinct entries: miles: ritter vs. equester: reitter), and in early modern German a third (similar, though unrelated) form, from Dutch, was introduced. In this period, Ritter was the term for the class of the German lower nobility, Reuter was the normal word for a cavalryman, and Reiter was rare but sometimes used for “horseman”. From the 18th century, was gradually replaced by, especially with individual noblemen, whereas the collective  remained in use for the class as a whole. Accordingly, becomes increasingly limited to the historic or romantic/poetic “medieval knight”.

Noun

 * 1) knight