English
reif
Reif comes from Old English rēaf ‘plunder, spoil, booty, raiment, garment, robe,…’, from Proto-West Germanic *raub ‘rape, pillage, robbery’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *Hrewp- ‘to rip, tear’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*Hrewp-1‘to rip, tear’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*raubą1‘rape, robbery’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*raub1‘rape, pillage, robbery’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150rēaf1‘plunder, spoil, booty, raiment, garment, robe, vestment, armor’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ref1
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1524reif1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English reif
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1524, a letter: “The opposition, which, as we shall see, was headed…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*Hrewp-Wiktionary, English reif‘to rip, tear’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*raubąWiktionary, English reif‘rape, robbery’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*raubWiktionary, English reif‘rape, pillage, robbery’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150rēafWiktionary, English reif‘plunder, spoil, booty, raiment, garment, robe, vestment, armor’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500refWiktionary, English reif
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1524reifWiktionary, English reif. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1524, a letter: “The opposition, which, as we shall see, was headed…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *Hrewp- ‘to rip, tear’
route, corruption, rob, corrupt, robbery, rover, disrupt, eruption, robe, rout, rupture, erupt, reaver, 21 more
through Middle English ref
Today it means
noun Robbery.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “reif”. 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 *Hrewp- / reif