From Middle English rake ?(“path”), from Old Norse rák ?(“trail”), from Proto-Germanic *rēkō, *rak?, *rakō, *rak? ?(“file of tracks, line”), from Proto-Indo-European *(o)reg'-, *(o)reg'a- ?(“to straighten, direct”). Cognate with Icelandic rák ?(“streak, grazing”), Icelandic raka ?(“strip, series”), Norwegian r?k ?(“grazing”), Norwegian rak ?(“wick”), Old English race, racu ?(“a run, riverbed”).