race English · revision 3384

+ English has two main words spelled ''race'': the contest of speed, from Old Norse, and the group of people of common descent, from French and Italian.^(AHD 2000)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /reɪs/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ {{homograph|1|contest of speed}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1300 (Arthour and Merlin)|origins=non rás}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The contest is [[inh|enm|ras|t=a rush, an onslaught; running]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(SOED 2002) [[bor|non|rás|t=a running, a rush of water]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(AHD 2000) cognate with Old English [[m|ang|rǣs|t=a running, rush, attack]].^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002) Etymonline allows that it may be a survival of the Old English word, with its form influenced by the Norse noun.^(Etymonline) The Germanic words are from Proto-Germanic *res-, which Watkins derives from a variant of [[ine-pro|*ers-|t=to be in motion]], the root of [[err]].^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2000) Hoad calls the Norse word of uncertain origin.^(Hoad 1986) The verb, Middle English rasen “to rush”, is from a Scandinavian source akin to the noun.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A charge in battle, an onslaught: probably before 1300, in ''Arthour and Merlin''.^(Barnhart 1988) The act of running is from about 1325.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was originally a northern word and became general in English about 1550.^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) It was used broadly of any course to be run: the course of life from about 1300, and the track of a heavenly body from the 1580s.^(Etymonline) ''To rue one's race'', “to repent the course one has taken”, is from about 1440.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) A strong current of water is from about 1300,^(Etymonline) and a channel such as a mill-race from the 1560s.^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) A contest of speed is from the 1510s,^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) and an election contest by 1825.^(Etymonline) The verb “to compete in a race” is from 1680,^(OED 1989) “to run against in a race” from 1809, and of an engine, “to run with uncontrolled speed”, from 1862.^(Etymonline) A ''race against time'' is a situation in which one tries to finish before a deadline.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1300 – an onslaught.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1300 – a swift current.^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1325 – running.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1510s – a contest of speed.^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1550 – general in English.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1560s – a mill channel.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1680 – verb, to run a race.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1825 – an election contest.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1862 – of an engine.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[competition]] of speed, as in running, riding or sailing.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # A contest for a position or prize: ''the presidential race''.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # A strong current of water, or a channel for one: ''a mill race''.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # ''(archaic)'' The course of life.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To take part in a race; to compete in speed.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+ # To move or go very fast.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # Of an engine, to run too fast.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[racer]]

+ * [[racing]]

+ * [[racecourse]]

+ * [[racetrack]]

+ * [[racehorse]]

+ * [[mill race]]

+ * [[rat race]]

+

+ {{homograph|2|people of common descent}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1520|origins=it razza}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The group of people is [[bor|frm|race|t=generation, family]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) from [[it|razza|t=race, breed, lineage]],^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2000)^(SOED 2002) of unknown origin, like Spanish raza and Portuguese raça.^(Etymonline)^(COED 2004) Etymologists see no connection with Latin [[m|la|rādīx|t=root]], though it may have influenced the sense “tribe, nation”,^(Etymonline) and Klein suggests a source in Arabic raʾs “head, beginning, origin”.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A class of wine with a characteristic flavour, and a group of people regarded as a set, as in ''a new race of poets'': 1520.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A generation is from the 1540s^(Etymonline) or about 1549,^(Barnhart 1988) and a group of people of common descent from 1570.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) A breed or stock of animals is from 1580.^(OED 1989) The sense passed through “tribe, nation or people of common stock”, about 1600,^(OED 1989) to “one of the great divisions of mankind with physical features in common” by 1774,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) though, as the OED points out, anthropologists never agreed on a classification.^(Etymonline) In the 19th century it was also used of a group seen as a distinct ethnic stock, such as the Germans or Greeks, from 1842.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1520 – a class of wine; a set of people.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1540s – a generation.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1570 – people of common descent.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1580 – a breed of animals.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1600 – a tribe or nation.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1774 – a great division of mankind.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1842 – an ethnic stock.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A group of people regarded as distinct on the basis of shared physical characteristics passed on by descent.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # A group of people united by common history, nationality or [[ancestry]].^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+ # A breed or variety of animals or plants; a [[subspecies]].^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+ # The human race: ''the human race''.^(AHD)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[racial]]

+ * [[racism]]

+ * [[racist]]

+ * [[interracial]]

+ * [[multiracial]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[err]]

+ * [[rash]]

+ * [[radix]]

+ * [[racy]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A ''race of ginger'', a ginger root, used by Shakespeare in ''The Winter's Tale'', is from Old French rais, from Latin rādīx “root”.^(Trench 1859)^(SOED 2002)^(OED 1989) In English dialects ''race'' was also the heart, liver and lungs of a calf.^(Wright 1898)^(OED 1989) A white mark down the face of a horse is a ''race'', of unknown origin.^(SOED 2002)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}