Etymology: Cognate with Middle Dutch reen , rein ridge forming the boundary of a field, boundary marker (Dutch (now rare) reen ridge forming the boundary of a field), Middle Low German (rare) reyn boundary, boundary marker, Old High German rein boundary of a field (Middle High German rein , rain , German Rain , †Rein ridge forming the boundary of a field), Old Icelandic rein strip of land (not attested as a simplex except in Skaldic poetry; Icelandic rein lane, strip of roadway, strip of land), Old Norwegian rein strip of land (Norwegian rein , ren ), Old Swedish, Swedish ren ridge forming the boundary of a field, Old Danish, Danish ren ridge forming the boundary of a field, (now rare) furrow; further etymology uncertain: perhaps < the same Indo-European base as Early Irish róen , ráen path (Irish raon ). Compare ( < the same Germanic base) Middle French rain , French regional (northern, Lorraine, Alsace) rain , †rein outskirts of a forest (1376). Compare rain n.², rean n.In sense 2 apparently influenced semantically by association with rone n.² (which was formally identical in varieties which showed the early Middle English development of ā to open ō , but not in those that did not). Alternatively, these could be regarded as examples of rone n.² showing formal assimilation to the present word. Also attested early in place names, especially in field names from the North Riding of Yorkshire, as Goderan (12th cent.), Haverlandesrane (1290), le Ranes (13th cent.), Heselrane (14th cent.), etc.

Etymology: Probably < early Scandinavian (compare Norwegian regional (western) rone , variant (with lengthened vowel) of Norwegian (Nynorsk) rune shoot, sprout, sapling, bush, thicket) < the same Germanic base as rune n.¹ (and hence ultimately from the same base as run v.). Compare also (from the same Germanic base) Old Icelandic runnr (Icelandic runnur, runni), Norwegian regional runn, ronn, runne, Old Swedish runne (Swedish regional runne, runna), all in sense ‘bush, thicket’.

Etymology: Origin uncertain. Perhaps of the same origin as later rone n.⁴ With the form variation compare ronnet , Scots variant of runnet n.¹, as well as forms at run v.

Etymology: Probably the reflex of a borrowing < early Scandinavian (compare Norwegian regional (southern) run , rån narrow watercourse or water channel, gutter, Swedish regional råne dripping or leak from a roof) < the same Germanic base as rune n.¹ (and hence ultimately from the same base as run v.). Compare Middle Low German ronne , rönne gutter (German regional (Low German) rönne , †ronne ), German regional (Switzerland) ron watercourse or water channel. Perhaps compare earlier rone n.³The form rond apparently shows excrescent -d . The β. forms perhaps result from association with round adj., on account of the semicircular cross-section of the gutter.

Etymology: Origin uncertain; perhaps a variant of ro v., perhaps as a result of association with round v.¹ (see forms at that entry). N.E.D. (1909) etymologized the word as variant of ro v., ‘the -n of the infinitive being taken as part of the stem’, comparing the forms of mistrow v. which occur in Cursor Mundi (see discussion at that entry). However, the following quot. from Cursor Mundi, taken by N.E.D. as an example of the present word, is perhaps better explained as showing round v.¹ in view of the underlying Latin text (Vulgate, Genesis 24:63):a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 3351 Ysaac him yode to rone [Gött., Trin. Cambr. ro; L. ad meditandum], Thoght on thing he had to done.