Etymograph

English

rod

Rod comes from Middle English rodde ‘As a staff or wand’.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500rodde‘As a staff or wand’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1603rod

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500rodde‘As a staff or wand’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1603rod

Earliest quotation: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes […]: “So was I brought up: they tell mee, that…”

The story

From Middle English rodde, from Old English *rodd or *rodde (attested in dative plural roddum (‘rod, pole’)), of uncertain origin, but probably from Proto-Germanic *rudd- (‘stick, club’), from Proto-Indo-European *rewdʰ- (‘to clear land’).uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain. For the root, compare English rid. Presumably unrelated to Proto-Germanic *rōdō (‘rod, pole’).

Every English word from Middle English rodde

Today it means

noun A straight, round stick, shaft, bar, cane, or staff.

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

Etymograph / Middle English rodde / rod

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