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RANK (1),
row or line of soldiers, class, order, grade, station. (F.,—O.H.G.)
Spelt ranck, Spenser, F. Q. iii. 6. 35 (the verb to ranck is in
the same stanza). The M.E. form is reng, Chaucer, C. T. 2596;
also renk, St. Brandan, ed. Wright, 12 (Stratmann); see reng in
Stratmann. Reng became renk, altered afterwards to rank
in accordance with a similar change made in the F. original.—O.F. reng,
later rang, 'a ranke, row, list, range;' Cot. He gives both
forms. Scheler gives the Picard form as ringue, Prov. renc.—O.H.G.
hring or hrinc, a ring; cognate with E. Ring,
q.v. And see Harangue.
The sense changed from 'ring' of men to a 'row' of men, or a file irrespective
of the shape in which they were ranged. The Bret. renk is
borrowed from O.F., and the other Celtic forms from F. or E. The G. rang
is borrowed back again from F. rang. Der. rank, verb
(Spenser, as above); also range,
q.v.; also ar-range, de-range. [†] RANK
(2), adj., coarse in
growth, very fertile, rancid, strong-scented. (E.) The sense
'rancid' or 'strong-scented' is late, and merely due to confusion with Lat. rancidus,
E. rancid, or rather with O.F. rance, 'musty, fusty, stale,' Cot.;
which comes to the same thing. 'As rank as a fox;' Tw. Night,
ii. 5. 136. M.E. rank, ronk. 'Ronk
and ryf;' Allit. Poems, ed. Morris, A. 843 (or 844).
Often with the sense of 'proud' or 'strong;' thus ronke is a various
reading for stronge, Ancren Riwle, p. 268, note c.—A.S. ranc,
strong, proud, forward; Grein, ii. 363. + Du. rank, lank, slender (like
things of quick growth). + Icel. rakkr (for rankr), straight,
slender. + Swed. rank, long and thin. + Dan. rank,
erect. β. A nasalised form of Teut. base RAK, to make straight, to
stretch; Hexham gives rancken as equivalent to recken, to rack, to
stretch. From
✔RAG, to stretch, make straight; whence also
Rack
(1), Right, Rich. Der.
rank-ly, -ness; also rank-le, q.v.
ADDENDA RANK
(1). Anglo-F. renc, a ring of people, Life of Edw. Conf.
l. 3363; rencs, ranks, id. 1923. Here we find final c
for g, as in tank and stank.
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