The story
- Proto-Germanic · inherited from*hrugjabainą“backbone”
- Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*hruggjabain
- Old English · inherited fromhryċġbān“backbone; spine”
- Middle English · inherited fromrygge-bone
- English todayridgebone
From Middle English rygge-bone, rigbone, from Old English hryċġbān (“backbone; spine”), from Proto-West Germanic *hruggjabain, from Proto-Germanic *hrugjabainą (“backbone”); equivalent to ridge (“the back”) + bone.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.