Etymologically
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rang

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (France): /ʁɑ̃/[1]
  • IPA (Quebec): /ʁã/[1]

Forms

rang m (plural rangs)[1] Old French renc (1080), ranc;[2][3][1] rang from about 1175 (Chrétien de Troyes).[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French renc, from Frankish *hring (“ring, circle”), from Proto-Germanic *hringaz, the source of German Ring and English ring.[4][2][5][1] The Frankish word must have meant an assembly, judicial or military, held in a circle according to Germanic custom, whence the idea of people arranged in an assembly, then of order and hierarchy.[2][5] The same Germanic word is behind harangue.[5][2] The word is only Gallo-Romance;[5][6] the English rank and the German Rang were borrowed from French.[5][6] Scheler's idea of a nasalized form of Latin rēgula is not followed.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Chanson de Roland has renc for a line of warriors: Turpins de Reims en est levet del renc.[4][7]

Semantic evolution

Chrétien de Troyes (1165–1170) uses it for the lists of a joust, whence se mettre al renc (1170), and figuratively se mettre sur les rangs, to put oneself forward as a candidate (1678).[4][2] From the army came serrer les rangs (1636), les rangs for the men of an army (1869), le rang, the ranks as opposed to officers (1893), sortir du rang (1893) and rentrer dans le rang (1918).[4][2][8] From the 14th century it named any row of people or things, as in un rang de perles (1690) and a row of knitting (Colette, 1910).[9][3] The sense “place in an order or hierarchy”, and social rank, followed.[2][10] In Quebec a rang is a line of long narrow farm lots and the road that serves them (1698).[8][1]

Timeline

  • c. 1100 – Renc, a line of warriors, in the Chanson de Roland.[4]
  • 1165–1170 – The jousting lists, in Chrétien de Troyes.[4]
  • c. 1175 – The form rang.[2]
  • 1636 – Serrer les rangs.[4]
  • 1678 – Se mettre sur les rangs, in La Fontaine.[3]
  • 1698 – A rang of farms in New France.[8]
  • 1893 – Sortir du rang.[2]
  • 1918 – Rentrer dans le rang.[4][8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A row of people or things side by side: un rang de fauteuils, collier à trois rangs de perles, au premier rang.[6][11]
  2. (military) A line of soldiers, les rangs, the army, le rang, the men as opposed to officers: serrer les rangs, sortir du rang, rentrer dans le rang.[2][1]
  3. A place in an order or a ranking: classer par rang de taille.[10]
  4. Rank, position in a hierarchy, social standing.[10][2]
  5. (knitting) A row of stitches.[11][1]
  6. (Quebec) A row of long narrow farm lots and the road serving them.[1][8]
  7. De rang: in a row, on end: dormir dix heures de rang.[6]

Word family

  • harangue
  • ring
  • English rank

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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
  5. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b c d e Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  11. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)