Pre-modern German lacked a robust vocabulary of its own for public debate about ideas and political matters. It ended up coining the words Räsonnement or Räsonnieren, which expressed actionsclosely associated with the Enlightenment. Borrowed from French, there is evidence of their use in German territories since the late 17th century. The French dictionary Trésor de la langue française (first edition 1606) cites the verb raisonner as early as the late 14th century with…