crane English · revision 15077

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1000|origins=ine-pro *gere-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /kreɪn/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|crane]], [[inh|ang|cran]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) cognate with [[osx|krano]], [[goh|krano]] (modern [[de|Kranich]]) and, with an unexplained change of k to t, [[non|trani]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) from [[ine-pro|*gere-|t=to cry hoarsely]], the source also of [[la|grūs]], [[grc|γέρανος|tr=géranos]] and [[cy|garan]].^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) The name probably echoes the bird's cry.^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The bird: about 1000, in Ælfric's Glossary;^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) as a surname, Crane, in 1177.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The lifting machine, long-legged like the bird, was a crane by the 14th century (1375),^(OED 1989)^(Cresswell 2021) as German, Dutch and French also name the machine after the bird,^(Cresswell 2021)^(Hoad 1986) and Greek and Latin had used their words for engines too.^(Hoad 1986)^(Barnhart 1988) The name was applied locally to herons and storks from 1678.^(OED 1989) The grey European crane was once common in British marshes and prized as food, but was extinct there through much of the 20th century.^(Etymonline) The verb, to hoist with a crane, is from 1570, and to stretch the neck from 1799.^(OED 1989)^(MWU 2024)^(Etymonline) In dialects of Scotland and northern England the crane was also the cranberry.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1000 – cran, the bird.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1177 – Crane (surname).^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1375 – a lifting machine.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1570 – to crane, hoist.^(OED 1989)^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1799 – to crane one's neck.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A large wading bird of the family Gruidae, with a long neck, long legs and a long bill.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A similar bird, such as a [[heron]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A machine for lifting and moving heavy objects by cables hung from a movable arm.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To stretch one's neck in order to see better.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To lift or move with a crane.^(AHD)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[cranesbill]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[cranberry]]

+ * [[geranium]]

+ * [[crane fly]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Crane, the skull (1541), was a separate word, from [[la|cranium]].^(OED 1989)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}