- rye (n.)
- Old English ryge, from Proto-Germanic *ruig (cf. Old Saxon roggo, Old Norse rugr, Old Frisian rogga, Middle Dutch rogghe, Old High German rocko, German Roggen), probably originally from Balto-Slavic (cf. Old Church Slavonic ruzi, Russian rozhi "rye;" Lithuanian rugys "grain of rye," plural rugiai). Meaning "whiskey" first attested 1835.