English
rank
Rank (position) comes from Middle English rank ‘line, row’, from Old French ranc, from Frankish *hring ‘ring’.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hringaz‘something bent or curved’reconstructed
- Frankishc. 250–700*hring‘ring’reconstructed
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400ranc‘line, row’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500rank‘line, row’
- Englishearliest quotation 1590rank
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hringaz‘something bent or curved’reconstructed
- Frankishc. 250–700*hring‘ring’reconstructed
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400ranc‘line, row’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500rank‘line, row’
- Englishearliest quotation 1590rank
Earliest quotation: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto III: “The seely man seeing him ryde so rancke, /…”
The story
The sense referring to taste or odor is possibly influenced by rancor.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- ‘straight, direct’
right, real, director, source, region, regular, rule, direction, address, direct, rich, royal, correct, dress, regime, roy, rex, rogue, regulate, resurrection, interrogation, erect, rack, regent, ana, rector, regal, regency, insurrection, rectify, raj, rake, rectum, anorexia, rhesus, rectification, incorrigible, droit, régime, dirge, 103 more
through Proto-Germanic *rankaz ‘straight’
Another origin of rank
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hringaz‘something bent or curved’reconstructed
- Frankishc. 250–700*hring‘ring’reconstructed
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400ranc‘line, row, rank’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500rank‘line, row’
- Englishtodayrank
Today it means
adj Strong in growth; growing with vigour or rapidity, hence, coarse or gross.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *hringaz / rank