The story
- Proto-Indo-European · derived from*rōt-
- Proto-Germanic · inherited from*rōdō
- Old English · inherited fromrōd“cross”
- Middle English · inherited fromrode
- English todayrood
From Middle English rode, rood (“cross”), from Old English rōd (“cross”), from Proto-Germanic *rōdō, *rōdǭ (“rod, pole”), from Proto-Indo-European *rōt-, *reh₁t- (“bar, beam, stem”). Cognate with German Rute (“rod, cane, pole”), Norwegian roda (“rod”). Largely displaced by cross. More at rod.
Words from the same roots
Middle Englishrode all →
roadRhodeRhodesroyd
Old Englishrōd all →
RhodeRhodesOrmerod
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.