row

English has three words spelled row: “a line”, from Old English rāw, and “to use oars”, from Old English rōwan, both pronounced /rəʊ/, and the 18th-century “quarrel”, pronounced /raʊ/, of uncertain origin.^[1][2][3]

row¹ line

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /rəʊ/, US /roʊ/^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English rawe, rewe,^[1][4] inherited from Old English rāw (“a row, line; succession, hedgerow”), late Old English rēawe, rēwe,^[1][4] from Proto-Germanic *raiwiz or *rai(h)waz,^[1][4] probably related to Middle Dutch rie (Dutch rij) and Middle High German rīhe, German Reihe “row, line, series”.^[1][5][4] The Germanic word is possibly from Proto-Indo-European *rei- (“to scratch, tear, cut”), which also gave Sanskrit rikhati “scratches” and rekhā “line”.^[4][1][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Order, succession: probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle,^[1] and a line of people or things about 1200 in Barnhart,^[1] before 1225 in the OED.^[7] Old English rāw is from 940.^[1]

Semantic evolution

A number of houses in a line, and hence a street, is from the mid-14th century, chiefly Scottish and northern according to the OED.^[4] A class or category of persons is from before 1300.^[7] A line of seats in a theatre is from 1710, and a line of plants in a field from 1733,^[4] hence the American a hard row to hoe, from 1823.^[4] In music, a tone row is from 1936.^[7]

Timeline

• 940 – Old English rāw.^[1]
• a. 1200 – order, succession; a line.^[1]
• mid-14th century – a row of houses.^[4]
• 1710 – a row of seats.^[4]
• 1733 – a row of plants.^[4]
• 1823 – a hard row to hoe.^[4]
• 1936 – a tone row.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A number of people or things arranged in a usually straight line.
2. A succession without a break: three wins in a row.
3. A continuous line of buildings along a street, or the street itself.
4. A line of seats in a theatre.
5. A horizontal line of entries in a table or matrix.

Verb

1. To place in a row.

Word family

• rowhouse

row² use oars

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /rəʊ/, US /roʊ/^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English rowen, rouwen,^[1][4] inherited from Old English rōwan (“to go by water, row”), a strong verb,^[1][4][5] from Proto-Germanic *rō-,^[4][5] also the source of Old Norse róa, Dutch roeien and Middle High German rüejen.^[1][4][5] The root is Proto-Indo-European *ere- (“to row”),^[4][1] which also gave rēmus (“oar”), Greek eréssein “to row”, Old Irish ráme “oar”, Lithuanian irti “to row” and Sanskrit arítra “oar”.^[1][5][8] It is related to rudder and trireme.^[9][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

“To propel a boat with oars”: about 950 in Old English,^[1] before the 12th century in Merriam-Webster.^[6] Middle English rouwen is from before 1200, in Layamon's Brut.^[1]

Semantic evolution

The figurative phrase row against the flood, to attempt something hard, is from the mid-12th century.^[4] The verb became transitive, to carry in a rowed boat, in the 14th century,^[5] and weak past forms appeared in the 13th.^[5] The noun, an act or spell of rowing, is from 1832, in American English,^[1][7] and rowboat from 1538.^[1] The rowing machine is from 1848.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 950 – Old English rōwan.^[1]
• a. 1200 – Middle English rouwen.^[1]
• 14th century – transitive use.^[5]
• 1538 – rowboat.^[1]
• 1832 – noun, a spell of rowing.^[1][7]
• 1848 – the rowing machine.^[4]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To move a boat through water using oars.
2. To carry in a boat propelled by oars.
3. To compete in a rowing race, or against another crew.

Noun

1. A trip in a rowing boat, or an act of rowing.

Word family

• rower
• rowing
• rowboat

row³ quarrel

Pronunciation

• IPA: /raʊ/^[3]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[1][5][6] It began as slang, in Etymonline Cambridge student slang,^[4][1] and may be related to, or a shortening of, rouse “a carousal, drinking bout”, from 1602 in Shakespeare's Hamlet, itself a shortening of carouse.^[1][4] Klein suggests a back-formation from rouse taken as a plural, as pea came from pease.^[8][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A violent disturbance or commotion, a noisy quarrel: 1746.^[7][1][4]

Semantic evolution

It was considered slang or “low” speech in the mid-18th century,^[2] and came into common use in the early 1800s together with its probable derivative rowdy.^[1][2] The verb meant at first to tease or rough someone up, from 1790,^[1] and to make a noisy commotion from 1797.^[1] The general sense “noise, din” is from 1845,^[7] and what's the row?, what is the matter?, from 1837.^[7]

Timeline

• 1746 – a commotion, quarrel.^[7][1]
• 1790 – verb, to rough up.^[1]
• 1797 – verb, to make a commotion.^[1]
• 1837 – what's the row?^[7]
• 1845 – noise, din.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A noisy quarrel or dispute.
2. A loud noise or commotion.

Verb

1. To quarrel noisily.

Word family

• rowdy

Related words

• outrow
• rouse
• rudder
• trireme

Usage notes

In Cornwall row was also coarse, undressed tin ore and the refuse of the stamping mills.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
2. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d 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 d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ 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)