This week, in
the last of this series, we’re looking at the -rect words that you probably
wouldn’t think are related to the Proto Indo European origin
word of reg-,
which means move in a straight line, but somehow are. Because that’s how stupid
words are.
Rack showed up
in the fourteenth century and is thought
to be from the Middle Dutch rec, framework. It’s related to the Old English reccan, to stretch out (and that’s
actually the first appearance of Old English in all four parts of this series),
which comes from the Proto
Germanic rak-, which is from
reg-. I guess a rack usually has straight lines…
Rake comes from the Old English raca, rake, which is from the
Proto Germanic rak-, although I can’t
actually be sure that it’s the same rak as in the rak origin. I mean, they’re spelled
the same, but you know how words are sometimes. In any case, here rak- means
“heap up”, which is a good definition of raking. But although it comes from
reg-, I’m not sure I get the relation to direct lines. Some people seem to
think it’s because rakes are made with straight pieces of wood. And speaking of
straight pieces of wood, rail is also related. It showed up in the fourteenth century from the Old French
reille, bolt or bar, from the Vulgar
Latin regla and classical Latin regula, rule. No idea why we dropped the G there. I blame French. They had a habit of
spelling words based on the Latin in spite of pronouncing them completely
different.
Reckless comes from the Old English receleas, reckless or careless,
and is just a mix of reck (which was a word, even if it’s not anymore) and
less. Reck comes from the Old English reccan, which means something like to take notice of or pay attention to. Um,
it’s a different definition than the other reccan I’ve mentioned here. This one
is actually from the West Germanic rokjan and Proto Germanic rokja, which can then be traced from
reg-. So it means paying attention to something, with the -less meaning
lacking/does not. Nope, no idea how
you get from “straight line” to that. Because keeping something straight is
careful??
And now, source.
Yes, really. Source showed up in the mid fourteenth century meaning support or base, coming from the Old French sourse, rising or beginning, from the sense of a fountainhead of a
river. That’s from the classical Latin surgere,
to rise,
which is actually a combination of sub-, up from below,
and regere, which I’ve mentioned
several times in this series as meaning to rule, or keep straight. And that keep straight is of course from reg-. So it’s to go
straight/rule up from below? I guess it’s because of the fountainhead thing.
The crazy journey of this one kind of makes sense.
And that’s it
for -rect words. These are far from the only words that come from reg-, but it
feels like these are the ones that we use the most. I’m sure I’ll get to the
others. At some point.
Sources (ha!)
Tony Jebson’s
page on the Origins of
Old English
Reckless is not keeping straight, but source is an odd one all right.
ReplyDeleteSo how does rake also mean someone who is a dressed up scoundrel? Is it because he doesn't walk the straight and narrow? Or because his clothes need to be perfectly straight? Words are confusing...
ReplyDeleteI have to wonder if some of these changed meanings over the years. Like, it was used more for straight, but then someone used it in a slightly different way... Hey, it makes as much sense as anything.
ReplyDeleteI think Kate's notion of a rake is more of a recent one, as it refers to a womanizer. There's a television show out there with that word as its title, and it stars Richard Roxburgh.
ReplyDeleteRack as stretch out fits, as a rack was a torture device.
I guess a rack of ribs has straight lines, too?
ReplyDelete