Etymograph

English

rake

Rake comes from Old English raca ‘tool with a row of pointed teeth, rake’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- ‘to straighten, right oneself’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃reǵ-‘to straighten, right oneself’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*rakō‘tool with a row of pointed teeth, rake’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150raca‘tool with a row of pointed teeth, rake’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500rake
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1794rake

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃reǵ-‘to straighten, right oneself’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*rakō‘tool with a row of pointed teeth, rake’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150raca‘tool with a row of pointed teeth, rake’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500rake
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1794rake

Earliest quotation: 1794, John Cockburn, The Unfortunate Englishmen: or: “But not to trouble the reader with a farther…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- ‘to straighten, right oneself’

right, real, director, source, region, regular, rule, direction, address, direct, rich, royal, correct, dress, regime, roy, arrangement, rank, ana, rex, rogue, regulate, radar, resurrection, arrange, interrogation, erect, rack, regent, rector, regal, regency, insurrection, rectify, anorexia, raj, rectum, rani, rhesus, rectification, 106 more

Another origin of rake

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃reǵ-‘to straighten, right oneself’uncertain
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*raką‘cord’reconstructed
  3. Old Norsec. 800–1350raka‘to scrape’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500raken‘to rake’
  5. Englishtodayrake

The verb is partly derived from rake (‘tool with a row of pointed teeth’) (see etymology 1) and from Middle English raken (‘to rake; to gather by raking; to rake away (debris); to cover with something; (figurative) to conceal, hide; to destroy’) [and other forms], from Old Norse raka (‘to scrape’), from Proto-Germanic *raką, probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (‘to straighten, right oneself’).

Another origin of rake

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500rake
  2. Englishtodayrake

Another origin of rake

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃reǵ-‘to straighten’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*rakōn‘to take a course or direction’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150racian‘to go forward, move, run’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500raken‘to go, proceed’
  5. Englishtodayrake

The verb is derived from Middle English raken (‘to go, proceed; to move quickly, hasten, rush; to roam, wander’) [and other forms], from Old English racian (‘to go forward, move, run; to hasten; to take a course or direction; to control, direct, govern, rule’), from Proto-West Germanic *rakōn (‘to take a course or direction; to run’), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (‘to straighten; to direct oneself’).

Another origin of rake

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁erǵʰ-‘to go up, rise’reconstructed
  2. Englishtodayrake

The origin of the verb is uncertain.uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain. The noun is probably derived from the verb.

Today it means

noun A garden tool with a row of pointed teeth fixed to a long handle, used for collecting debris, grass, etc., for flattening the ground, or for loosening soil; also, a similar wheel-mounted tool drawn by a horse or a tractor.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- / rake

Shirt and support for this word