How can the verbalization of an abstract concept like dominion be captured in the German language? Especially in a time that is still heavily influenced by Latin? The examination of the usage of the word "rike" within the first German prose world chronicle, the Saxon World Chronicle, approaches this question through detailed manuscript evaluations. Thanks to the broad and partly very disparate transmission of the Saxon World Chronicle, it is possible to gain insights into how stable the discourse on dominion is in this text. The observations made in the analysis will ultimately be synthesized and overviewed in connection with existing observations on concepts of dominion during the time of the Saxon World Chronicle's creation.