rum

Forms

rūm^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *rūm, from Proto-Germanic *rūmaz (“roomy, spacious”); the noun beside it continues the neuter *rūmą (“room, space”).^[1][2][3] The adjective is shared with Gothic 𐍂𐌿𐌼𐍃 (rūms, “spacious”), Old Norse rúmr (“roomy, ample”) and Old Frisian rūm (“spacious”), the noun with 𐍂𐌿𐌼 (rūm, “room”), rúm (“room, space”), Old Saxon rūm (“distance”) and Old High German rūm (“room, space”).^[2][4]

Orel explains the adjective as a formation in *-m- related to Latin rūs (“countryside”) and Old Irish róe (“field, open land”), and compares a Tocharian verb meaning “to open”.^[2] Holthausen compares the same Latin word, with Slavic and Avestan words for “level” and “open space”, and Köbler gives the root as Proto-Indo-European *reu̯ə- (“to open”) (Pokorny p. 874).^[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adjective is recorded first in the gloss of the Vespasian Psalter, added in the middle of the ninth century: “Ðu gesettes in stowe rumre foet mine”, “you have set my feet in a spacious place”, over the Latin “in loco spatioso”.^[5][6] The Pastoral Care (890×897) has “sio rume stræt”, “the broad street”, as an image of the wide way of this present life.^[7][6]

Semantic evolution

The adjective is first used of space, roomy and wide (a broad road, open country), then of time, long or extended, and of the mind, ample, liberal or generous; it can also mean unrestricted, and in a bad sense lax.^[8][9] Beowulf uses it of a spacious place.^[10] The noun means room or space, a space of time, and time that allows something to be done, an opportunity, as in Beowulf 2690.^[8][11] In glosses the adjective renders Latin largus, latus and spatiosus.^[3]

The noun lived on as Middle English roum “space, extension”, now English room.^[12]

Timeline

• s. ix med. – in stowe rumre “in a spacious place” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[5][6]
• 890×897 – sio rume stræt “the broad street” in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[7][6]
• s. x² – the noun in under rodera rūm “under the expanse of the heavens” in Genesis A in the Junius manuscript.^[13][8]
• s. x/xi – the noun “opportunity” and the adjective “spacious” in the Beowulf manuscript.^[14][11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. roomy, spacious, wide, extensive.^[8][10]
2. of time, long, extended.^[8][9]
3. ample, liberal, generous.^[8][3]
4. unrestricted, free; in a bad sense, lax.^[8]
5. great, noble.^[8][9]

Noun

1. room, space.^[8][3]
2. a space of time, an interval.^[8]
3. opportunity, time to act.^[8][11]

Word family

• rȳman
• rūmlīċe
• rūmheort
• rūmmōd
• rūmgifol
• ġerūm

Descendants

• Middle English roum (→ English room; Scots rowm; Scots roum)^[1]

Usage notes

The noun is masculine in Bosworth and Toller, masculine or neuter in the Supplement, and neuter in Köbler.^[8][15][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 309
3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. rūm
4. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 264
5. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 329
6. ^ a b c d Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
7. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 499
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 803
9. ^ a b c Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 164
10. ^ a b Fulk, R. D.; Bjork, Robert E.; Niles, John D., eds. (2008), Klaeber's Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, 4th ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press (glossary), p. s.v. rūm, adj.
11. ^ a b c Fulk, R. D.; Bjork, Robert E.; Niles, John D., eds. (2008), Klaeber's Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, 4th ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press (glossary), p. s.v. rūm, m.
12. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
13. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 513
14. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 344
15. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 690