English
range
Range comes from Middle English rengen, from Old French rengier ‘to rank’, from rang ‘a row’, from Frankish *hring, from Proto-Germanic *hringaz ‘ring’.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hringaz‘ring, circle’reconstructed
- Frankishc. 250–700*hringreconstructed
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400rang‘a rank, row’
- Old French, derivedc. 842–1400rengier‘to range, rank’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500rengen
- Englishearliest quotation 1590range
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hringaz‘ring, circle’reconstructed
- Frankishc. 250–700*hringreconstructed
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400rang‘a rank, row’
- Old French, derivedc. 842–1400rengier‘to range, rank’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500rengen
- Englishearliest quotation 1590range
Earliest quotation: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto VII: “Therein an hundred raunges weren pight, / And hundred…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)krengʰ- ‘ring, circle’
through Proto-Germanic *hringaz ‘ring, circle, curve’
through Frankish *hring
through Old French rengier ‘to range, to rank, to order’
through Middle English rengen
Today it means
noun A line or series of mountains, buildings, etc.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *hringaz / range