rock

English has two main words spelled rock: the mass of stone, from Old North French, and the verb “to sway”, from Old English, which also gave the music.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /rɒk/, US /rɑːk/^[4]

rock¹ stone

Etymology

The stone is inherited from Middle English rokke, also roc and roche,^[5][2] found in Old English rocc, as in stānrocc “stone rock, obelisk”, and partly developed from it,^[5][2] but more directly borrowed from Old French roque, Old North French, a variant of Old French roche,^[5][2][1][6] from Vulgar Latin *rocca,^[5][1][3] of uncertain origin.^[5][2][6] Klein suggests a Celtic source, comparing Breton roch,^[7][5] Merriam-Webster calls it probably non-Indo-European,^[3] and Word Origins notes that the classical Latin word was petra, the source of petrify.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A cliff, an outcrop of rock: about 1250, and in the surname Stanrok in 1241.^[2] The OED's first quotation for a large rugged mass of stone forming a cliff or crag is from the 14th century.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Figurative senses from the Bible are from 1526: a source of danger, as of shipwreck, and something that gives a sure foundation or shelter.^[9] A detached stone of any size is a rock, originally in the United States, from 1709.^[9] On the rocks, “destitute”, is from the 18th century,^[9] and as a drink “on ice” is American, first recorded in 1946.^[8] The slang rock for a precious stone is from the late 19th century.^[8] In Canada a curling stone is a rock, from 1911.^[9] People have been caught between a rock and a hard place since the 1920s, first in Arizona and California.^[8]

Timeline

• 1241 – in the surname Stanrok.^[2]
• c. 1250 – a cliff, outcrop.^[2]
• 1526 – a danger; a sure foundation.^[9]
• 1709 – a stone of any size.^[9]
• late 19th century – a precious stone.^[8]
• 1920s – between a rock and a hard place.^[8]
• 1946 – on the rocks, on ice.^[8]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The hard mineral matter of the earth's crust; stone.
2. A large mass of stone forming a cliff or outcrop.
3. (chiefly US) A stone of any size.
4. A person or thing that is firm and dependable.
5. (British) A hard stick of sweet: a stick of rock.
6. (slang) A diamond or other gem.

Word family

• rocky
• rockery
• bedrock
• rock salt
• rock bottom
• rock garden

rock² sway; music

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English rokken, inherited from Old English roccian (“to move a child gently to and fro”),^[5][2][1] probably from a Germanic base meaning “to move, remove”,^[6][10][11] represented also by Middle Dutch rucken (“to sway”), Old High German rucchan (“to cause to move”), German rücken (“to move, push”) and Old Norse rykkja (“to pull, tug”).^[5][2][3] Barnhart calls this base of unknown origin.^[2] The noun is from the verb.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Late Old English roccian: before 1100.^[2] Middle English rocken, of rocking a cradle, is probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The intransitive sense “to sway back and forth unstably” is from the late 14th century.^[5] The noun, a rocking movement, is from 1823.^[5][2] In blues slang rock meant “to cause to move with musical rhythm” by 1922, often with sexual overtones,^[5] and a musical rhythm with a strong beat is first recorded in 1946.^[2][5] The verb “to dance to popular music with a strong beat” is from 1948.^[5] Rock and roll is from 1954,^[2] usually rock'n'roll from 1955, and shortened to rock by 1957.^[2][5] Rock star is by 1956.^[5] Rocker was one who rocks a cradle before 1325.^[2]

Timeline

• before 1100 – to rock a child.^[2]
• late 14th century – to sway unstably.^[5]
• 1823 – noun, a rocking movement.^[5][2]
• 1922 – blues slang, to move with rhythm.^[5]
• 1946 – a strong musical beat.^[2]
• 1954 – rock and roll.^[2]
• 1957 – rock, the music.^[2][5]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To move gently back and forth or from side to side.
2. To shake or disturb violently: rocked by scandal.
3. To play or dance to rock music.

Noun

1. A rocking movement.
2. Rock and roll, or popular music developed from it.

Word family

• rocker
• rocking chair
• rocking horse
• rock and roll
• punk rock

Related words

• rococo
• petrify

Usage notes

An archaic rock, “a distaff”, is from Middle Dutch rocke or Old Norse rokkr, from about 1310.^[6][9][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c d e f g Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press