Etymograph

English

crane

Crane comes from Proto-West Germanic *kran ‘crane (bird)’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *gerh₂- ‘to cry hoarsely’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gerh₂-1‘to cry hoarsely’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kranô1reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kran1‘crane (bird)’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150cran1
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500crane1
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1619crane1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English crane
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1619, Philip Massinger, Nathan Field: “an upstart craned up to the height he has”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gerh₂-Wiktionary, English crane‘to cry hoarsely’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kranôWiktionary, English cranereconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kranWiktionary, English crane‘crane (bird)’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150cranWiktionary, English crane
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500craneWiktionary, English crane
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1619craneWiktionary, English crane. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1619, Philip Massinger, Nathan Field: “an upstart craned up to the height he has”

The story

The mechanical devices are named from their likeness to the bird.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *gerh₂- ‘to cry hoarsely’

cricket, crow, crick, creak, geranium, 6 more

Today it means

noun Any bird of the family Gruidae, large birds with long legs and a long neck which is extended during flight.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “crane”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *gerh₂- / crane

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