row: There are three distinct words row in English. The one meaning ‘use oars’ [OE] goes back to a prehistoric Germanic base *rō- ‘steer’, which also produced Dutch roeijen and Swedish ro, not to mention English rudder. Row ‘orderly line’ [OE] comes from a prehistoric Germanic *raigwa, and is probably related to German reihe ‘row’. Row ‘noisy quarrel’ [18] seems to have originated in the late 18th century as a piece of Cambridge University slang, but where it came from is not known. => rudder
