race: For such a common word – or rather two words, for ‘people, population’ [16] and ‘speed competition’ [13] are unrelated – surprisingly little is known about the origins of race. The former comes via French from Italian razza, but the antecedents of razza are obscure. The ‘running’ race originally meant ‘rush’, and was borrowed from Old Norse rás ‘rush, running, race’ – again, of unknown origin. [race etymology, race origin, 英语词源]