Etymologically
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rise

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /raɪz/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English risen, inherited from Old English rīsan (“to rise from sleep, stand up”), usually in ārīsan or gerīsan,[2][3] from Proto-Germanic *us-rīsanan, “to go up”,[2][3] the source also of Old Saxon and Old High German rīsan, Dutch rijzen, German reisen “to travel”, Old Norse rísa and Gothic urreisan.[2][3][4] The OED and Hoad find no related words outside Germanic,[2][4] and Boutkan suggests a lost European substrate language;[2] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster compare Latin orīrī “to rise” and Greek óros “mountain”.[3][5] It is related to raise.[3] The noun is from the verb.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English ārīsan, before 830.[3] Middle English risen, “to rebel”, is from 1135,[3] and “to get up, ascend” from before 1200.[3]

Semantic evolution

From the late 12th century it also meant “to rise from the dead”.[2] About 1200 it meant to move upward, to increase, to prosper, and of the sun or stars, to appear above the horizon.[2] Of rivers and seas, “to increase in height”, is from about 1300,[2] “to originate” by the mid-13th century, and “to happen” from the early 14th.[2] The noun meant a rebellion about 1400,[2][3] rising ground about 1440,[3] and upward movement about 1573.[3][6] A rise in wages is by 1836.[2] Give rise to is from 1705,[2] and get a rise out of, probably from a fish rising to the bait, by 1829.[2] Rise and shine, “get up”, is by 1916.[2]

Timeline

  • before 830 – Old English ārīsan.[3]
  • 1135 – to rebel.[3]
  • before 1200 – to get up, ascend.[3]
  • c. 1200 – to increase; of the sun.[2]
  • c. 1400 – noun, a rebellion.[2][3]
  • c. 1440 – rising ground.[3]
  • 1705 – give rise to.[2]
  • 1836 – a pay rise.[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To stand up after lying, sitting or kneeling; to get out of bed.
  2. To move upwards; to ascend.
  3. To increase in level, amount, value or intensity.
  4. Of the sun or moon, to appear above the horizon.
  5. To rebel: rise up against.
  6. To come into existence; to originate.

Noun

  1. An upward movement or increase.
  2. An increase in pay.
  3. A piece of rising ground; a slope.
  4. A beginning or origin: give rise to.

Word family

  • arise
  • uprise
  • rerise
  • uprising
  • self-rising
  • earthrise
  • moonrise
  • sunrise

Usage notes

The past tense is rose and the past participle risen.[4][1]

References

  1. ^ a b 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 f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press