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re

Etymology and origin of the English word re

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English has two words spelled re: the musical note and the preposition “concerning”.[1][2]

Pronunciation

  • IPA: note /reɪ/; preposition /riː/, /reɪ/[3]

re1 musical note

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1325
Borrowed from
Latin re via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Latin (resonāre)

Etymology

The musical note is inherited from Middle English re, borrowed from Medieval Latin re,[1][2][4] the first syllable of Latin resonāre (“to resound”),[1][5] the word sung to this note in a medieval hymn to St John the Baptist.[1][5] See gamut.[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The second note of Guido's hexachords: about 1325.[1][6]

Semantic evolution

In the modern solmization of the octave it is the second note of the scale, and in French and Italian use, rarely in English, the note D.[6][7] Merriam-Webster dates the sense to the 14th century,[2] and the Unabridged to the 15th.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 1325 – the second note of the hexachord.[1][6]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. (music) The second note of the diatonic scale in solfège.

re2 concerning

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1707 (Thomas Hearne)
Borrowed from
Latin re
Ultimate origin
Latin (rēs)

Etymology

The preposition is borrowed from Latin rē (“in the matter of”), the ablative of rēs (“thing, matter, affair”),[1][8][4][5] from the legal phrase in rē.[8][6] Etymonline traces rēs to Proto-Italic *rē- and Proto-Indo-European *reh-i- (“wealth, goods”).[8] It is related to real.[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the matter of, concerning: 1707, in Thomas Hearne's Remarks and Collections.[1][6][2]

Semantic evolution

The word was used from about 1700 in legal language.[8] Etymonline notes that Fowler condemned its use outside legal and business writing in three sections of Modern English Usage.[8]

Timeline

  • 1707 – concerning (Hearne).[1][6]

Modern meaning

Preposition

  1. In the matter of; concerning, about.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  2. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  4. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Re.” Etymologically, 15 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/re. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026.

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