Etymograph

English

rhine

Rhine comes from Old English ryne ‘course, path along which motion takes place’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *(H)r̥-nw ‘to flow, move, run’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(H)r̥-nwH‘to flow, move, run’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*runiz‘a course’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150ryne‘course, path along which motion takes place’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1849–1861rhine

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(H)r̥-nwH‘to flow, move, run’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*runiz‘a course’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150ryne‘course, path along which motion takes place’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1849–1861rhine

Earliest quotation: 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Secon: “the Black Ditch and the Langmoor Rhine”.

Linked words

through Old English ryne ‘course, path along which motion takes place’

ember, 2 more

Today it means

noun A watercourse; a ditch for water.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *(H)r̥-nw / rhine

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