English
rectangle
Rectangle comes from Late Latin rectangulum ‘right angle’.
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CErectangulum‘right angle’
- Englishearliest quotation 1728rectangle
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CErectangulum‘right angle’
- Englishearliest quotation 1728rectangle
Earliest quotation: 1728, Ephraim Chambers, Product: “In Lines it [the product] is always (and ſometimes…”
A compound of rectus ‘right’ + angulus ‘an angle’
Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- ‘to straighten, direct’
Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵtós ‘having moved in a straight line’
Proto-Italic *rektos
Latin regō ‘to keep or lead straight, to guide’
Latin rectus ‘right’
Proto-Indo-European *h₂eng- ‘bend, curve’
Proto-Indo-European *h₂engulos ‘joint?’
Proto-Italic *angulos
Latin angulus ‘an angle’
Every English word from Late Latin rectangulum
Today it means
noun Any quadrilateral having opposing sides parallel and four right angles.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Late Latin rectangulum / rectangle