English
Rigel
Rigel comes from Arabic رِجْل ‘foot, leg’, and goes back to Proto-Semitic *rigl-.
- Proto-Semiticc. 4000–3000 BCE*rigl-‘foot, leg’reconstructed
- Arabicc. 500–presentرِجْلrijl‘foot, leg’
- Englishearliest quotation 1893Rigel
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Semiticc. 4000–3000 BCE*rigl-‘foot, leg’reconstructed
- Arabicc. 500–presentرِجْلrijl‘foot, leg’
- Englishearliest quotation 1893Rigel
Earliest quotation: 1893, E. W. Bullinger, Witness of the Stars: “He is so pictured in the ancient Denderah Zodiac,…”
Every English word from Proto-Semitic *rigl-
Another origin of Rigel
- Germanc. 1650–presentReigeluncertain
- EnglishtodayRigel
Probably an Americanized spelling of German Reigel or Riegel.
Today it means
name A blue supergiant star in the constellation Orion; Beta (β) Orionis. The seventh brightest star in the night sky.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Semitic *rigl- / Rigel