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Etymology and origin of the French word raine

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1120 Oxford Psalter More words from the 12th century
Inherited from
Latin rana
Ultimate origin
Latin rāna
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin rāna
French raine
Italian rana
Spanish rana
From the same root
French rainette ← rāna

Pronunciation

  • /ʁɛn/[1]
  • Louisiana: /ɾɛ̃n/[1]

Forms

raine f (plural raines)[1] Picard rayne is cited by Marot in the 16th century.[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin rāna (“frog”).[3][1][4][5][6] Rey takes the Latin word to be probably onomatopoeic;[7] Littré cited Corssen's view that it stood for an older form built on a root imitating the croaking.[2]

The Latin word survives in all the Romance languages except Catalan and those of the Balkans:[3] cognate with Italian rana, Spanish rana, Portuguese rã and Occitan rana.[3][8][2] A Latin diminutive without the nasal gave grenouille, which supplanted it.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Oxford Psalter (first half of the 12th century), meaning “frog”.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

Raine was gradually replaced by grenouille: Marot already called rayne Picard and grenouille French, and Furetière labelled it old in 1690.[2][3] It was still used in the Encyclopédie in 1765 for the tree frog.[7] Its diminutive gave rainette.[7]

The word lives on in Walloon, Picard, the southern Vosges, the Franco-Provençal area and western France,[3] and in Louisiana French.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 1120 – First record in the Oxford Psalter.[4][5][3]
  • 14th century – The diminutive ranete appears.[7]
  • c. 1425 – The diminutive is remade as rainette.[7]
  • 16th century – Marot calls rayne a Picard word.[2]
  • 1690 – Furetière marks the word as old.[3]
  • 1765 – The Encyclopédie uses it for the tree frog.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (archaic or regional) A frog.[3][5][1]
  2. (archaic) A tree frog, a rainette.[2][7]

Word family

  • grenouille
  • renoncule
  • Latin rāna

Usage notes

Littré records the rural saying il n'est pas cause que les raines n'ont pas de queue, said of a man of little intelligence.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10, 51b
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Raine.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/raine. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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