pre-arrange (v.)

late 14c., arengen, "draw up a line of battle," from Old French arengier "put in a row, put in battle order" (12c., Modern French arranger), from a- "to" (see ad-) + rangier "set in a row" (Modern French ranger), from rang "rank," from Frankish *hring or a similar Germanic source. , from Proto-Germanic *hringaz "something curved, circle," the source also of ring (n.1). It is reconstructed to be from a nasalized form of the PIE root *sker- (2) "to turn, bend."

It was a rare word until the meaning generalized to "to place things in order" c. 1780-1800. The sense of "come to an agreement or understanding" is by 1786. The musical sense of "adapt for other instruments or voices" is by 1808. Related: Arranged; arranging. Arranged marriage is attested by 1854.

word-forming element meaning "before," from Old French pre- and Medieval Latin pre-, both from Latin prae (adverb and preposition) "before in time or place," from PIE *peri- (source also of Oscan prai, Umbrian pre, Sanskrit pare "thereupon," Greek parai "at," Gaulish are- "at, before," Lithuanian prie "at," Old Church Slavonic pri "at," Gothic faura, Old English fore "before"), extended form of root *per- (1) "forward," hence "beyond, in front of, before."

The Latin word was active in forming verbs. Also see prae-. Sometimes in Middle English muddled with words in pro- or per-.