- roe (n.1)
- "fish eggs," mid-15c., probably from an unrecorded Old English *hrogn, from Proto-Germanic *khrugna (source also of Old Norse hrogn, Danish rogn, Swedish rom, Flemish rog, Middle Low German and Middle Dutch roge, Old High German rogo, German Rogen "roe"), from PIE *krek- "frog spawn, fish eggs" (source also of Lithuanian kurkle, Russian krjak "spawn of frogs"). Exact relations of the Germanic words are uncertain.
- roe (n.2)
- "small deer," Old English ra, from raha, from Proto-Germanic *raikhaz (source also of Old Norse ra, Old Saxon reho, Middle Dutch and Dutch ree, Old High German reh, German Reh "roe"), of uncertain origin; perhaps from PIE root *rei- "streaked, spotted, striped in various colors."
