Etymograph

English

rib

Rib comes from Proto-Germanic *ribją ‘rib, reef’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₁rebʰ- ‘arch, ceiling, cover’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁rebʰ-‘arch, ceiling, cover’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*ribją‘rib, reef’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*ribireconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150ribb
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500rib
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1596–1598rib

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁rebʰ-‘arch, ceiling, cover’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*ribją‘rib, reef’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*ribireconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150ribb
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500rib
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1596–1598rib

Earliest quotation: c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice: “It [lead] were too gross To rib her cerecloth…”

Linked words

through Proto-Germanic *ribją ‘rib, reef’

reef, 2 more

Another origin of rib

  1. Old Englishc. 450–1150ribbe‘hound's-tongue’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ribbe
  3. Englishtodayrib

Today it means

noun Any of a series of long curved bones occurring in 12 pairs in humans and other animals and extending from the spine to or toward the sternum.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₁rebʰ- / rib

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