Etymology
1. O.E.
hring "circular band," from P.Gmc.
*khrengaz (cf. O.N.
hringr, O.Fris.
hring, Ger.
Ring), lit. "something curved," from PIE base
*(s)ker- "to turn, bend" (cf. L.
curvus "bent, curved,"
crispus "curly;" O.C.S.
kragu "circle," and perhaps Gk.
kirkos "ring,"
koronos "curved"). Meaning "place for prize fight and wrestling bouts" (c.1330) is from the space in a circle of bystanders in which such contests were once held (
ringside is attested from 1866). Meaning "combination of interested persons" is from 1829. The verb meaning "to make a circle around" is O.E.
ymbhringan. The circus
ringmaster is recorded from 1873.
Tree ring is from 1671;
fairy ring is from 1626. Nursery rhyme
ring a ring a rosie, is attested in an American form (with a different ending) from c.1790. "The belief that the rhyme originated with the Great Plague is now almost universal, but has no evidence to support it and is almost certainly nonsense" ["Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore"]. This connection only dates to the 1960s.
2. From Middle English ryng, from Old English hring (“ring, circle”), from Proto-West Germanic *hring, from Proto-Germanic *hringaz (“ring”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)krengʰ-, extended nasalized form of *(s)ker- (“to turn, bend”). Doublet of rank and rink, as well as indirectly range.
3. Cognates
4. * West Frisian ring
5. * Low German Ring
6. * Dutch ring
7. * German Ring
8. * Swedish ring
9. * Finnish rengas
10. More distantly cognate with Proto-Slavic *krǫgъ (whence Bulgarian кръг (krăg), Polish krąg, Russian круг (krug)).
Verbs referencing "ring"
English
circus, Swedish
ringa.