Do we know when and why a kitchen cooking stove come to be called a "range"?

[janeslogin]

I’ve an etymology question. Do we know when and why a kitchen cooking stove come to be called a “range”?

[Ethilrist]

Seems to be a reference to being able to hold a range of sizes of pots (i.e., more than one), and the term is used in Leviticus 11:35, King James version, so it’s not particularly new.

[RealityChuck]

@OED

a. Originally: a fireplace, grate, or simple apparatus used for cooking. Now: spec. a large cooking stove, having hotplates on the top and one or more ovens, all of which are kept continuously hot; (also, chiefly N. Amer.) any gas or electric cooker incorporating burners or heating elements and one or more ovens.

First cite was in 1423, before the Bible.

[Mr_Downtown]

Wow. “Before the Bible” is not a concept I’d ever considered before.

[Exapno_Mapcase]

Etymonline - Online Etymology Dictionary

range (n.)
c.1200, “row or line of persons” (especially hunters or soldiers), from O.Fr. range “range, rank,” from rangier “to place in a row, arrange,” from reng “row, line” (see rank (n.)). Meaning “row of mountains” is from 1705. Meaning “scope, extent” first recorded 1660s; that of “area over which animals seek food” is from 1620s, from the verb. Specific U.S. sense of “series of townships six miles in width” is from 1785. Sense of “distance a gun can send a bullet” is recorded from 1590s; meaning “place used for shooting practice” is from 1862. The cooking appliance so called since mid-15c., for unknown reasons.

Although origin is unknown it wouldn’t surprise me if there were a connection to the sense of arranging a row of pots.

And of course the Bible was written in English instead of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek and words can always be translated one-to-one with exactness. “Before the Bible” makes sense in any language. Was a language invented for it to be written in? :dubious:

[Muffin]

@Exapno_Mapcase

Was a language invented for it to be written in? :dubious:

Tongues.

[Exapno_Mapcase]

@Muffin

Tongues.

Tongues are intelligently designed.

d&r

[charmstr]

RealityChuck’s OED quote is really interesting to me, particularly the part that reads:

spec. a large cooking stove, having hotplates on the top and one or more ovens, all of which are kept continuously hot

Does anyone besides AGA still make this sort of cooker?[SUP]1[/SUP] “Range” makes particular sense when talking about one of these cookers. Each hotplate is a different set temperature as is each of the ovens. That makes for a range of choices for the cook.

Interestingly, the cookers AGA makes that meet this definition are referred to simply as cookers. They do sell AGA “ranges” as well, but these look and act much more like what we in the U.S. think of as a range.

[SUP]1[/SUP] Apparently there is also Rayburn but they appear to be connected to AGA.

[Hail_Ants]

@charmstr

Interestingly, the cookers AGA makes that meet this definition are referred to simply as cookers. They do sell AGA “ranges” as well, but these look and act much more like what we in the U.S. think of as a range.

That company is British and I believe they (still) refer to it as a cooker rather than a ‘range’. Heard it called this on Python, AbFab etc…

[kenobi_65]

@Hail_Ants

That company is British and I believe they (still) refer to it as a cooker rather than a ‘range’. Heard it called this on Python, AbFab etc…

My friends who grew up in Ireland refer to their range as a cooker, as well. When they told me they were going to the store to buy a “new cooker”, I was picturing a slow cooker (i.e., a Crock Pot). I quickly realized that I was mistaken.

[An_Gadai]

So what’s an Irish/Britishcooker called in the US?

[kayaker]

@An_Gadai

So what’s an Irish/Britishcooker called in the US?

Oven/stove/range.

When I hear cooker, I think of this.

[Muffin]

@An_Gadai

So what’s an Irish/Britishcooker called in the US?

A stove or a range.

[An_Gadai]

@kayaker

Oven/stove/range.

When I hear cooker, I think of this.

Ah right. That meaning of cooker is preserved in pressure cooker here.

[Slade]

“First cite was in 1423, before the Bible.”

Before the King James version, yes, but the first English translation of all dates back to 1382. Presumably these Wycliffe Bibles (as they’re called) used a different word when translating that Leviticus passage, or the OED would have mentioned it.

[Mahaloth]

I think he just meant “before that Bible”. Either that, or I’m being whooshed by someone.

I’m sure others are wondering, so here is what I found for Wycliffe Bible on the same verse.

35 and what euer thing of siche deed bodies bi hem silf felde theronne, it schal be vnclene, whether furneisis, ethir vessels of thre feet, tho schulen be destried, and schulen be vnclene.

[Acsenray]

@charmstr

“Range” makes particular sense when talking about one of these cookers. Each hotplate is a different set temperature as is each of the ovens. That makes for a range of choices for the cook.

I think it’s much simpler than this. It’s multiple cooking surfaces spread out in regular intervals, like soldiers in formation on a battlefield.