rake

n.

WA rakke

'path'

(Modern English rake)

Etymology

Three different etyma have been proposed, the ME and PDE reflexes of which would be very difficult to tell apart, and two or more of these are now generally regarded as likely to have contributed to the development on ME rake. (1) OE -racu (probably identical etymologically with OE racu ‘exposition, explanation, observation; reason, argument; account, narrative’, cp. OIcel rǫk, OS raka, OHG rahha) will account straightforwardly for the form of ME rake and the sense, either as a generalization from 'watercourse, channel of a stream' > 'any course, path' (thus OED, MED, etc.) or with the continued sense 'watercourse' in some cases (see Elliott 1984: 80, 137). It has been taken as the sole source of rake (EDD, Kullnick 9, TG), the main etymon (OED3, MED) and one of two inputs (GDS, TGD). (2) An ON rák has also been suggested as an etymon (OED, Thorson, Magoun 1937: 134, followed by McGee 342) or allowed as a possible input by OED3. Scandinavian words cited in this connection include one or more of OIcel rák ‘a streak, stripe’ (Icel rák also ‘vein in timber or stone, notch in a rock’), OIcel -rák ‘driving’ (in klaufrák ‘driving of cattle’), Far rák ‘current’, Norw raak, råk ‘stripe, channel in a waterfall or ice, haystrip; track, cow path, pursuit’, Sw dial rák ‘crack or channel in ice, damp hollow or valley’ (and cp. further Shetl rog ‘stripe, ridge’). However, there are no instances of ME roke, PDE roke meaning 'path' to prove an ON word containing /ɑ:/ played a role in the development of rake in this sense. Two ulterior etymologies are possible for ON rák: < *wrēk- (an ē-grade derivation on the root of the vb. PGmc *wrekan-) or *rēk- (probably an Ablaut variant of the same *rak- as in OE -racu as in (1))(see further Dance). Scandinavian authorities usually allow for input from both to explain the words above (see further Torp, Falk-Torp and Mag.), but it is very likely that even if they were originally two separate words, they were conflated by Scandinavian speakers early on and it is difficult in retrospect to tell which meanings belonged to one or the other branch. (3) Some possible influence from OE hrace, hrace (rarer hracu) 'gorge' has also been claimed (thus MED, OED3, EPNE). 

PGmc Ancestor

(1) *rak-; (2) *wrēk- or *rēk-; (3) *xrak-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

rák ‘a streak, stripe’ 
(ONP (2) rák (sb.); klauf-rák (sb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

(2) Far rák, Icel rák, Norw råk, Sw dial råk, Shetl rog

OE Cognate

(1) -racu 'bed or channel of a river or stream', cp. racu 'exposition, explanation, observation; reason, argument; account, narrative'; (3) hrace, hracehracu 'gorge'

Phonological and morphological markers

Summary category

DD1c

Attestation

First attested referring to a path or channel in Gaw and otherwise mainly from N/EM texts; its later dial usage is known mainly from the N/EM (see OED sense (2), EDD, Thorson (as far SE as Ess.)).  Compatible forms in place-names are much more widespread (see EPNE s.vv. hraca, hrace; racu; rák, MED sense (e), OED s.v. rake n.2, sense (2)).  

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 2144, 2160; WA 3383, 5070

Vant reads <rak> at Gaw 1695 as another instance of this word; see rak

Bibliography

MED rāke (n.3) , OED3 rake (n.3) , HTOED , Dance rake, EDD rake (sb.2, v.2); (1) Orel *rakan ~ *rakō (II), AEW racu (1), DOE ēa-racu, EPNE racu; (2) de Vries rák, Mag. rák; -rák, Torp NnEO raak (1), (2), (3), Falk-Torp raak (I), Hellq råk (1), Seebold wrek-a-, Bamm 111, Orel *wrēkō, Kroonen *wrēkō-, EDD roke (sb.), Thorson rake (roke); (3) MED rāke (n.2) , OED3 rake (n.2) , AEW hrace, -u, EPNE hraca, hrace