Etymograph

English

reach

Reach comes from Old English rǣċan ‘to reach’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *Hreyǵ-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*Hreyǵ-‘to bind’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*raikijaną‘to stretch out’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*raikijan‘to reach’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150rǣċan‘to reach’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500rechen
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1601reach

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*Hreyǵ-‘to bind’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*raikijaną‘to stretch out’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*raikijan‘to reach’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150rǣċan‘to reach’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500rechen
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1601reach

Earliest quotation: 1601, Caius Plinius Secundus [i.e., (please specify |book=I to XXXVII): “the gulfe Iasius, and all the coast thereof is…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *Hreyǵ- ‘to bind, reach’

rigid, irrigation, rigorous, rigor, rigour, 7 more

Another origin of reach

  1. Chinesemodern立直lìzhí‘riichi’
  2. Japanesemodernsame formrīchi‘riichi, a 役(やく) completed by declaring the hand to be 聴(てん)牌(ぱい)’
  3. Englishtodayreach

Today it means

verb To extend, stretch, or thrust out (for example a limb or object held in the hand).

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *Hreyǵ- / reach

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