Random
Middle English (in the sense ‘impetuous headlong rush’): from Old French randon ‘great speed’, from randir ‘gallop’, from a Germanic root shared by rand2.
wiktionary
From earlier randon, from Middle English randoun, raundon, from Old French randon, from randir(“to run, gallop”) (whence French randonnée(“long walk, hike”)), from Frankish *rant, *rand(“run”, noun), from Proto-Germanic *randijō, from *rinnaną(“run”, verb), from Proto-Indo-European *(H)r̥-nw-(“to flow, move, run”). See run.
etymonline
random (adj.)
1650s, "having no definite aim or purpose, haphazard, not sent in a special direction," from phrase at random (1560s), "at great speed" (thus, "carelessly, haphazardly"), from an alteration of the Middle English noun randon, randoun "impetuosity; speed" (c. 1300). This is from Old French randon "rush, disorder, force, impetuosity," from randir "to run fast," from Frankish *rant "a running" or some other Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *randa (source also of Old High German rennen "to run," Old English rinnan "to flow, to run;" see run (v.)). For spelling shift of -n to -m, compare seldom, ransom.
In 1980s U.S. college student slang it began to acquire a sense of "inferior, undesirable." (A 1980 William Safire column describes it as a college slang noun meaning "person who does not belong on our dormitory floor.") Random access in reference to computer memory that need not be read sequentially is recorded from 1953. Related: Randomly; randomness.
