Where does “rail” come from?
Rail derives from Middle French railler, from Latin radiare meaning to radiate, ultimately from Latin radius meaning ray or spoke, with formative elements from Latin rego and the diminutive suffix -ulus.
rail (English): A horizontal bar extending between supports and...
Definitions
- A horizontal bar extending between supports and...
Ancestry of “rail”, step by step
rail traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.
via Middle English rail
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | rail | — |
| 2 | Old English | regol | a rule; a ruler |
| 3 | Latin | rēgula | rule, bar |
| 4 | Latin | -ula | regō + API → rēgula; tegō + API → tēgula;... |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | -tlom | Alternative form of *-trom |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | -trom | Forms nouns denoting a tool or instrument |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -tḗr | Derives agent nouns from verbs, denoting someone... |
via Anglo-Norman raier
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anglo-Norman | raier | to radiate |
| 2 | Latin | radiare | present active infinitive of radiō; second-person... |
| 3 | Latin | radius | ray; staff, rod; spoke |
| 4 | English | -án | Of or pertaining to;. Often added to words of Latin origin, but also used with words of other origins. When a word ends in a |
| 5 | Middle English | -an | — |