Etymograph

English

race

Race comes from Old Norse rás ‘a running, race’, from Proto-Germanic *rēsō ‘a course’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁reh₁s- ‘to flow, rush’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁reh₁s-‘to flow’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*rēsō‘a course’reconstructed
  3. Old Norsec. 800–1350rás‘a running’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500race
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1603same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁reh₁s-‘to flow’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*rēsō‘a course’reconstructed
  3. Old Norsec. 800–1350rás‘a running’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500race
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1603same form

Earliest quotation: 1603, Ben Jonson, Sejanus His Fall: “A race of wicked acts / Shall flow out…”

Every English word from Proto-Indo-European *h₁reh₁s-

Another origin of race

  1. Italianc. 1300–presentrazza
  2. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600race
  3. Englishtodaysame form

Partially displaced native Middle English kinde (‘kind, type, sort, race, nature’), whence English kind. Fully displaced native Old English cnōsl and hād.

Another origin of race

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wréh₂ds‘root’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wrādīks‘root’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEradix‘root’
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600raïz
  5. Englishtodayrace

Another origin of race

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErāsus‘scraped’
  2. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*raso‘to shave’reconstructed
  3. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400raser
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500rasen
  5. Englishtodayrace

Today it means

noun A contest between people, animals, vehicles, etc. where the goal is to be the first to reach some objective.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₁reh₁s- / race

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