The verb 'rock' (to sway) comes from late Old English 'roccian,' from Proto-Germanic *rukkōną (to move, push) — entirely unrelated to 'rock' the stone, which arrived later from French — and is the etymological ancestor of 'rock and roll,' drawing on centuries of meaning around rhythmic swaying.
To move gently back and forth or from side to side; to sway; to shake or cause to tremble; to perform or listen to rock music.
From late Old English 'roccian' (to sway, rock a cradle), probably from Proto-Germanic *rukkōną (to move, push), possibly related to Old Norse 'rugga' (to rock a cradle) and Middle Dutch 'rucken' (to pull, jerk). This is entirely unrelated to 'rock' (stone), which came from French. The music genre 'rock and roll' (1950s) draws on the swaying/dancing sense, itself rooted in earlier African-American slang where 'rocking' meant both dancing and sexual activity. Key roots: *rukkōną (Proto-Germanic: "to move, push,
When 'rock and roll' emerged as a music term in the 1950s, both words were centuries-old English verbs for swaying motion. The phrase had been used in African-American communities since at least the 1920s with dual meanings of dancing and lovemaking. DJ Alan Freed popularized it as a genre name, but the linguistic raw material — two Germanic motion-verbs — had been in English since before the Norman Conquest.