Etymologically
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arise

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /əˈraɪz/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English arisen, inherited from Old English ārīsan (“to get up, rise, originate”),[2][3][4][5] from Proto-Germanic *uz-rīsanan,[2] cognate with Old Saxon ārīsan and Old High German irrīsan.[2][3][4][5] It is formed from the prefix ā- and rīsan (“to rise”) (see a- and rise).[2][4][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

To rise from inaction or from the ordinary course of life: about 825 in the OED, before 830 in the Vespasian Psalter in Barnhart.[7][2]

Semantic evolution

Getting up from a fall is from about 885, rising from sleep or from the dead from about 950, and the rising of the sun and stars from about 975.[7] Standing up from sitting or kneeling, from about 1000, is now archaic.[7] The word has mostly been replaced by rise, except of circumstances that come about; formerly the choice between the two was often made for the sake of rhythm.[3] An obsolete noun arise, a rising, is from 1590.[7][5] In Northamptonshire dialect cut a-rise meant cut crosswise.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 825 – to rise up from inaction.[7]
  • c. 885 – to get up from a fall.[7]
  • c. 950 – to rise from sleep; from the dead.[7]
  • c. 975 – of the sun, to rise.[7]
  • 1590 – arise (noun, obsolete).[7]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To come into being; to originate.
  2. To result or proceed, often with from: guilt arising from my actions.
  3. To come to notice.
  4. (literary) To get up or stand up.
  5. To move upward; to ascend.

Word family

  • rearise

Usage notes

Its past tense is arose and its past participle arisen.[9]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins