Etymology: Cognate with Old Frisian rēk smoke (West Frisian reek ), Old Dutch rouc smoke (Middle Dutch rooc ), Middle Dutch rōke odour, incense (Middle Dutch rooc and rōke subsequently merged, so that modern Dutch rook means both ‘smoke’ and ‘odour’), Old Saxon rōk smoke (Middle Low German rōk smoke, vapour, odour), Middle Low German röke , rök odour (both pleasant and unpleasant), Old High German rouh smoke, incense (Middle High German rouch smoke, vapour, incense, odour, German Rauch smoke, (now rare) incense, vapour), Old Icelandic reykr smoke, vapour, Old Swedish röker smoke, vapour, odour (Swedish rök ), Old Danish røk smoke (Danish røg smoke, incense) < an ablaut variant (o -grade, hence with Germanic *au ) of the Germanic base of reek v.¹The β. forms reflect palatalization and assibilation of the original velar plosive /k/ in Old English (almost certainly already present in the Old English α. forms but not distinguished in spelling until the Middle English period); the palatalization was caused by the same stem-forming suffix that caused i-mutation of the stem vowel. (The expected West Saxon form *rīec is not recorded.) The later α. forms clearly show a velar /k/ rather than palato-alveolar affricate /tʃ/; this is probably the result of a combination of factors, including (i) analogical levelling within the paradigm from forms where assibilation did not take place before a back vowel, (ii) the influence of the Scandinavian cognates, and (iii) the influence of the corresponding Old English verb rēocan reek v.¹ (see further K. Luick Hist. Gram. der englischen Sprache (1940) I. ii. §§688, 690.4, A. Campbell Old Eng. Gram. (1959) §438, R. M. Hogg Gram. Old Eng. (1992) I. §7.42). Eng. Dial. Dict. (at Reech) records forms of the word (and its derivatives) reflecting a pronunciation with /tʃ/ from Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cheshire, Shropshire, and Warwickshire. The anomalous Old English form roec perhaps shows a reverse spelling for e arising from the variation (in early texts) of oe and e as the reflex of the i-mutation of o . The usual modern German word for ‘smell’ is Geruch (Middle High German geruch ), which shows a prefixed form of Middle High German ruoch , ruch (German †Ruch ), which in turn shows a different nominal formation also < the Germanic base of reek v.¹

Etymology: Probably a variant of wreke n. (compare sense 2 at that entry). Compare earlier reet n., and also wreck n.¹ 2, wrack n.² 3a.

Etymology: Probably a transferred use (after Irish cruach stack (of corn), pile, mountain, hill (Early Irish crúach ); compare quot. 1870) of a variant of rick n.¹ (see forms at that entry).

Etymology: A merging of two distinct words: (i) (represented by the α forms) an Old English strong verb of Class II (rēocan ) (originally intransitive), cognate with Old Frisian riāka to emit smoke, Old Dutch riecan to emit smoke (Middle Dutch rūken , ruycken , (regional: Flanders) rieken , Dutch ruiken , (now literary) rieken to emit a smell, to notice a smell), Middle Low German rūken , rüken , (rare) rīken , rēken to emit a smell, to notice a smell, Old High German riohhan to glow, to emit smoke (Middle High German riechen to emit smoke or vapour, to emit a smell, to notice a smell, German riechen to emit a smell, to notice a smell, (now regional (southern) and rare) to emit smoke), Old Icelandic rjúka to emit smoke or steam, Old Swedish riuka , ryka to emit smoke or vapour, to emit a smell, (of smoke or steam) to rise, emanate (Swedish ryka to emit smoke or vapour, (of smoke or steam) to rise, emanate, (of snow or dust) to whirl in fine particles, (now obsolete) to smell; the usual Swedish word for ‘to smell’ is lukta ), Old Danish ryghe to emit smoke or vapour (Danish ryge to emit smoke or vapour, to treat with smoke, to smoke tobacco), related to the noun reek n.¹ and its cognates, and to the weak verbs discussed below, further etymology uncertain (see note below), and (ii) (represented by the β forms) an Old English weak verb (rīecan , Anglian rēcan ) (a causative formation ultimately from the same base as the strong verb, and originally transitive), with which compare Old Frisian rēka to emit smoke (West Frisian rikje , reekje , rykje to emit smoke, to treat (food, etc.) with smoke; Old Frisian also had rūkia to emit a smell (West Frisian rûke ), a loanword from either Middle Dutch or Middle Low German), Middle Dutch rōken to emit smoke or vapour, to treat with smoke (Dutch rooken ), Middle Low German rōken , röken to emit smoke or vapour, to treat with smoke, Old High German rouhhen to burn incense (Middle High German rouchen to emit a smell, to emit smoke, to expose to or treat with smoke, German rauchen to emit smoke, (of warm blood) to emit steam, to smoke tobacco, (now regional: southern and Switzerland) to treat with smoke, to burn incense (the usual German word in this causative sense is the derivative räuchern )), Old Icelandic reykja to treat with smoke, Old Swedish rökia to treat with smoke (Swedish röka to treat with smoke, to smoke tobacco, (now rare) to emit smoke or vapour, (of snow, dust, powder) to whirl in fine particles), Old Danish røge to treat with smoke, to emit smoke (Danish røge to treat with smoke, (now archaic or regional) to smoke tobacco, to emit smoke or vapour). The latter group of verbs (all belonging to the weak conjugation) is disparate in origin; some of its members are denominative derivatives from the respective cognates of reek n.¹ in the various Germanic languages, some are causative formations from the intransitive verb, and some are partly from one origin and partly from the other. Various languages (e.g. Swedish and Danish) now show some semantic overlap of the strong and weak verbs, rather than a merger as in English.Forms in West Germanic with -ū- in the present stem may reflect variation sometimes found in the present stem of strong verbs of Class II. It is possible that the Germanic strong verbs are related to a family of Baltic words, e.g. Old Prussian raugus rennet, Lithuanian raugti to ferment (food), to pickle (food) by fermentation, to belch, raugas leaven, Latvian raudzēt to ferment (food), (regional also) to emit smoke, raugs yeast, and (apparently with different ablaut grade) Old Prussian ructan soured, fermented (in ructan dadan sour milk), Lithuanian rūgti to ferment, to become sour, Latvian rūgt to ferment, (of dough) to rise, (now regional) to emit or give off smoke, (of smoke) to rise. However, this presents various formal and semantic difficulties; for example, the semantic development of the Germanic verbs is difficult to explain unless it is assumed that their hypothetical original meaning was ‘to well forth, exude’, but there is no evidence to support this. The γ and δ forms represent later reflexes of, respectively, the Old English α and β forms. The two words probably started to be confused in Old English (compare the intransitive past tense rēohte at α. forms and see quot. OE¹ at sense 2b; compare also the prefixed forms below). In Old English the prefixed forms gerēocan (strong Class II), gerēcan (weak Class I) are also attested, both transitive in sense ‘to fumigate’ (compare y- prefix); compare also berēocan (strong Class II), berēcan (weak Class I), both transitive in sense ‘to expose to smoke, fumigate’ (compare be- prefix). Several of the senses which are found in Old English and in 16th-cent. and later use are found rarely or not at all in Middle English.

Etymology: Origin uncertain. Perhaps < either Dutch †reken (Middle Dutch rēken ) or Middle Low German rēken (Old Saxon rekōn ), both in sense ‘to put in order’ (see reken adj.), although neither of these Germanic verbs appears to be attested specifically with reference to ships. Alternatively, Dict. Older Sc. Tongue at reke v.³ suggests that the word may be a variant (with devoicing of the final g ) of rig v.², but although that verb is a close semantic parallel, this seems less convincing on formal grounds. With to reek out compare later outreik v.Although earlier reach v.¹ (compare the γ. forms at that entry) and reke v.¹ closely parallel the forms of the word, it seems less likely that it arose as a specific semantic development of either of these verbs (e.g. from ‘to proceed, to go’ to ‘to prepare (a ship) for going to sea’). With the form rake perhaps compare Middle Low German rāken to put in order, to prepare, apparently a specific sense development of rāken rake v.¹

Etymology: Probably a variant of wreak v. (compare forms at that entry). Compare earlier wreck v.¹, wrack v.²