Online Etymology Dictionary

rock (n.): "stone," O.E. rocc (in stanrocc "stone rock or obelisk"), also from O.N.Fr. roque, from M.L. rocca (767), from V.L. *rocca, of uncertain origin, sometimes said to be from Celtic (cf. Bret. roch). Seems to have been used in M.E. principally for rock formations as opposed to individual stones. Meaning "precious stone, especially a diamond," is 1908, U.S. slang. Fig. use for "sure foundation" (especially with ref. to Christ) is from 1526. Meaning "crystalized cocaine" is attested from 1973, in West Coast U.S. slang. Rocks "ice cubes" is from 1946; slang meaning "testicles" is first recorded in phrase get (one's) rocks off "achieve intense satisfaction." On the rocks "ruined" is from 1889. Rock-bottom "lowest possible" is from 1856. Rock-salt is from 1707. Between a rock and a hard place first attested 1921, originally in Arizona. Rock-ribbed is from 1776, originally of land; fig. sense of "resolute" first recorded 1887.
rock (v.1): "to sway," late O.E. roccian, related to O.N. rykkja "to pull, tear, move," Swed. rycka "to pull, pluck," M.Du. rucken, O.H.G. rucchan, Ger. rücken "to move jerkily." For musical senses, see rock (v.2). Rocking horse is first recorded 1724; rocking chair is from 1766. To rock the boat is attested from 1931. Rock-a-bye first recorded 1805 in nursery rhyme.
rock 'n' roll: noun ref. to a specific style of popular music is attested from 1954, from rock (v.2) + roll (v.). The verbal phrase had been a Black Eng. euphemism for "sexual intercourse," used in popular dance music lyrics and song titles since at least the 1934s. Shortened form rock first attested 1957.
rocker: "a rocking chair," 1852, Amer.Eng., from rock (v.); earlier "nurse charged with rocking a cradle" (c.1400). In sense of "one of the curved pieces of wood that makes a chair or cradle rock" it dates from 1787. Slang off (one's) rocker "crazy" first recorded 1897. Meaning "one who enjoys rock music" (as opposed to mod) is recorded from 1963.
rock (v.2): "to dance to popular music with a strong beat," 1948 (first attested in song title "We're gonna rock"), from rock (v.1), in earlier blues slang sense of "to cause to move with musical rhythm" (1922); often used at first with sexual overtones (cf. 1922 song title "My Man Rocks Me (with One Steady Roll)"). Sense developed early 1950s to "play or dance to rock and roll music." Noun sense of "musical rhythm characterized by a strong beat" is from 1946, in blues slang. Rocksteady, Jamaican pop music style (precursor of reggae), is attested from 1969.
rocky: "full of rocks," c.1400, from rock (n.); "unsteady," 1737, from rock (v.1). Meaning "difficult, hard" is recorded from 1873, and may represent a little of both.
rockabilly: 1956, from noun sense of rock (v.2), with the second element abstracted from (hill)billy music. First attested in a "Billboard" item about Johnny Burnette's "Lonesome Train."
Tarpeian rock: 1607, rock face on the Capitoline Hill in Rome, from which persons convicted of treason were thrown headlong, from L. (mons) Tarpeius "(rock) of Tarpeia," said to have been a Vestal virgin who betrayed the capitol to the Sabines and was buried at the foot of the rock. Her name probably is of Etruscan-Tyrrhenian origin.
lorelei: 1878, name of a rock in the River Rhine near Koblenz, Germany. In legend, a lovely woman sat atop it and sang while combing her long blond hair, distracting sailors so their ships foundered on the rock and they drowned.
saltpeter: "potassium nitrate," c.1500, earlier salpetre (early 14c.), from O.Fr. salpetre, from M.L. sal petrae "salt of rock," from L. sal "salt" (see salt) + petra "rock, stone." So called because it looks like salt encrusted on rock.
traps (1): "expanse of dark igneous rock," 1794, from Swed. trapp (1766), from trappa "stair," related to M.L.G. trappe "staircase" (see trap). So called from the step-like appearance of the rock.
tufa: "a porous rock," 1770, from It. tufa, from L. tophus "loose, porous volcanic rock," an Oscan-Umbrian loan-word.
cloud: O.E. clud "mass of rock," from P.Gmc. *kludas, metaphoric extension 13c. based on similarity of cumulus clouds and rock masses. O.E. word for "cloud" was weolcan.
oolite: "rock consisting of fine grains of carbonate of lime," 1785, from Mod.L. oolites, from oo-, comb. form of Gk. oon "egg" (cognate with O.E. æg, see egg) + lithos "stone." So called because the rock resembles the roe of fish.
shale: 1747, possibly a specialized use of M.E. schale "shell, husk, pod" (c.1380), also "fish scale," from O.E. scealu (see shell) in its base sense of "thing that divides or separate," in ref. to the way the rock breaks apart in layers. Geological use also possibly influenced by Ger. Schalstein "laminated limestone," and Schalgebirge "layer of stone in stratified rock."
gneiss: 1757, from Ger. Gneiss "type of metamorphic rock," from M.H.G. gneist "spark" (so called because the rock glitters), from O.H.G. gneisto "spark."
tuff: 1569, "rock of consolidated volcanic fragments," from M.Fr. tuf, from It. tufa "tufa, porous rock," probably from L. tufus, tophus (see tufa).
cobalt: 1680s, from Ger. kobold "goblin," Harz Mountains silver miners' term for rock laced with arsenic and sulphur (so called because it made them ill), from M.H.G. kobe "hut, shed" + *holt "goblin," from hold "gracious, friendly," complimentary words used to avoid the wrath of troublesome beings. The metal was extracted from this rock. It was known to Paracelsus, but discovery is usually credited to Brandt (1733). Extended to a blue color 1835.
lamprey: c.1200, from O.Fr. lampreie, from M.L. lampreda, from L.L. lampetra "lamprey," probably lit. "lick-rock," from L. lambere "to lick" + petra "rock." The animals attach themselves to things with their sucker-like mouths.
hobble: c.1300, hoblen "to rock back and forth, toss up and down," probably related to its Du. cognate hobbelen. Transitive sense of "tie the legs of an animal" first recorded 1831, probably an alteration of 16c. hopple, cognate with Flem. hoppelen "to rock, jump," related to Du. hobbelen. Sense of "hamper, hinder" is c.1870.
berceuse: "cradle song," 1876, from Fr. berceuse "cradle-song, woman who rocks an infant," from bercer "to rock" (O.Fr. bercier "to rock" a child in a cradle, 12c.) + fem. agent suffix -euse.
parsley: 14c. merger of O.E. petersilie, O.Fr. peresil (13c.), both from M.L. petrosilium, from L. petroselinum, from Gk. petroselinon "rock-parsley," from petros "rock, stone" + selinon "celery."
grit: O.E. greot "sand, dust, earth, gravel," from P.Gmc. *greutan "tiny particles of crushed rock" (cf. O.S. griot, O.Fris. gret, O.N. grjot "rock, stone," Ger. Grieß "grit, sand"), from PIE ghreu- "rub, pound, crush" (cf. Lith. grudas "corn, kernel," O.C.S. gruda "clod"). Sense of "pluck, spirit" first recorded Amer.Eng. 1808. Gritty in sense of "unpleasant" (of literature, etc.) is 1882, in reference to the sensation of eating gritty bread.
saxifrage: 1373, from O.Fr. saxifrage (13c.), from L.L. saxifraga "kind of herb," from L. saxifraga herba, lit. "a rock-breaking herb," from saxifragus "stonebreaking," from saxum "stone, rock" + frag-, root of frangere "to break" (see fraction). Pliny says the plant was so called because it was given to dissolve gallstones, but a more likely explanation is that it was so called because it grows in crevices in rocks. (Latin used two different words for "stone" and "gallstone" -- saxum and calculus).
meteorite: "rock that falls to earth, after streaking across the sky as a meteor," formed in English 1824.
gabbro: "type of igneous rock," 1837, from It. (Tuscan), from L. glaber "bare, smooth, bald."
meteoroid: "rock floating in space, which becomes a meteor when it enters Earth's atmosphere," formed in Eng. 1865.
metamorphic: in geological sense, 1833, in Lyell, from metamorphosis. Rock whose form has been changed by heat or pressure.
jump (v.): 1530, perhaps onomatopoeic (cf. bump); another theory derives it from words in Gallo-Romance dialects of southwestern France (cf. jumba "to rock, to balance, swing," yumpa "to rock"), picked up during English occupation in Hundred Years War. Superseded native leap, bound, and spring in most senses. Meaning "to attack" is from 1789; that of "to do the sex act with" is from 1638. The noun is attested from 1552. Meaning "jazz music with a strong beat" first recorded 1937, in Count Basie's "One O'Clock Jump." To jump to a conclusion is from 1704. Jumpy "nervous" is from 1879. Jump suit "one-piece coverall modeled on those worn by paratroopers and skydivers" is from 1948. Jumping-rope is from 1805. Jump in a lake "go away and stop being a pest" attested from 1912.
New Wave: 1960, of cinema (from Fr. Nouvelle Vague, late 1950s); 1976 as a name for the more restrained and melodic alternative to punk rock.
dolomite: 1794, named for Fr. geologist Déodat De Gratet De Dolomieu (1750-1801) who described the rock in his study of the Alps (1791).
Jacuzzi: 1966, U.S. proprietary name, from Jacuzzi Bros., Inc., Little Rock, Arkansas.
Hammond: type of electric organ favored by 1960s rock bands, trademark name (1935), invented 1929 by U.S. inventor and clockmaker Laurens Hammond (1895-1973).
lode: original M.E. spelling of load (q.v.), and custodian of most of the original meaning of "way, course, carrying." Differentiation in sense took place 16c. Mining sense of "vein of metal ore" is from c.1600, from notion of miners "following" it through the rock.
obsidian: 1656, from L. obsidianus, misprint of obsianus (lapis) "(stone) of Obsius," a Roman alleged by Pliny to have found this rock in Ethiopia.
embed: 1778, from en- + bed. Originally a geological term, in ref. to fossils in rock; fig. sense is from 1835; meaning "place a journalist within a military unit at war" is 2003.
ledge: c.1272, "crossbar on a door," perhaps from M.E. verb leggen "to place, lay" (see lay (v.)). Sense of "narrow shelf" is first recorded 1558; "shelf-like projection of rock" is from 1555.
Carpathian: mountain range of Eastern Europe, from Thracian Gk. Karpates oros, lit. "Rocky Mountain;" related to Albanian karpe "rock."
petrochemical: 1913, formed in Eng. from Gk. petro-, comb. form of petra "rock" + chemical (q.v.).
bedrock: 1850, from bed + rock. Figurative use from 1869.
crag: c.1300, probably from a Celtic source akin to O.Ir. crec "rock," and carrac "cliff," and Manx creg.
Beatles: seminal rock and pop group formed in Liverpool, England; named as such 1960 (after a succession of other names), supposedly by then-bassist Stuart Sutcliffe, from beetles (on model of Buddy Holly's band The Crickets) with a pun on the musical sense of beat. Their global popularity dates to 1963.
cockaigne: c.1300, from O.Fr. coquaigne "lubberland," imaginary country, abode of luxury and idleness. Of obscure origin, speculation centers on words related to cook (v.) and cake (cf. Big Rock Candy Mountain).
salsa: kind of sauce, 1846; kind of dance, 1975, from Sp., lit. "sauce," from V.L. *salsa "condiment" (see sauce). In Amer.Sp. esp. used of a kind of relish with chopped-up ingredients; the music so called from its blend of Latin jazz and rock styles.
pier: c.1150, "support of a span of a bridge," from M.L. pera, of unknown origin, perhaps from O.N.Fr. pire "a breakwater," from V.L. *petricus, from L. petra "rock." Meaning "solid structure in a harbor, used as a landing place for vessels," is attested from 1453.
rack (2): "gait of a horse," 1530 (implied in racking), perhaps from Fr. racquassure "racking of a horse in his pace," of unknown origin. Or perhaps a variant of rock (v.1).
petroglyph: 1870, from Fr. pétroglyphe, from Gk. petra "rock" + glyphe "carving."
hone (n.): O.E. han "stone, rock," in M.E. "whetstone" (early 14c.), from P.Gmc. *khaino (cf. O.N. hein "hone"). The verb is 1788, from the noun.
moraine: "ridge of rock deposited by a glacier," 1789, from Fr. moraine, from Savoy dialect morena "mound of earth," from Prov. morre "snout, muzzle," from V.L. *murrum "round object," of unknown origin, perhaps from a pre-L. Alpine language.
scarp: "steep slope," 1589, from It. scarpa "slope," probably from a Gmc. source (cf. M.H.G. schroffe "sharp rock, crag," O.E. scræf "cave, grave"). Fr. escarpe is from It.