Rant Came From a Dutch Word for Raving
To rant is to speak at length in an angry way. The word arrived from Dutch in the 1500s.
To rant is to speak or write at length in an angry, impassioned way. It came from Dutch *ranten*, to talk foolishly or rave, and in the 1600s it named a specific thing: the Ranters were an English radical religious sect, and *ranting* meant their style of ecstatic preaching before it meant ordinary anger. The pairing *rant and rave* is a binomial of two near-synonyms, a pattern English loves — *rant* is Dutch and *rave* is French, so the phrase is one idea in two languages.
- To speak angrily. *Ranting about traffic.*
- An angry speech. *A long rant.*
- To rave. *Rant and rave.*
- Ranter — a 1600s sect member. *A Ranter.*
- Dutch — *ranten*, to rave. *The source.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb | rant | Ranting. |
| Noun | rant | A rant. |
| Past | ranted | Ranted. |
| Agent | ranter | A ranter. |
| Dutch | ranten | To rave. |
- He ranted for ten minutes.Speech.
- A rant about the weather.Noun.
- The Ranters were a sect.History.
Pairs of near-synonyms
- Rant and rave — Dutch plus French
- Cease and desist — French plus Latin
- Null and void — a legal doubling
- Will and testament — English plus Latin
- Law English often paired native and borrowed words
Dutch *ranten*, to talk foolishly or rave, recorded in English from the late 1500s.
Who were the Ranters?
A radical English religious sect of the 1600s whose ecstatic preaching gave the word its earliest specific use.
Why do we say rant and rave?
It is a doubled pair of near-synonyms, one Dutch and one French, a pattern common in English legal and popular phrasing.