roost

roost¹ perch for birds

Etymology

The word for a bird's perch is inherited from Middle English rooste,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English hrōst (“wooden framework of a roof; perch”),^[5][2][3][6] from Proto-Germanic *hrōstaz (“wooden framework; grill”).^[1] It is cognate with Old Saxon hrōst (“framework of a roof, attic”) and Middle Dutch roest, Dutch roest (“perch”),^[7][3][4][8] and comes from a suffixed form of the Germanic base of Old Norse hrót and Gothic 𐌷𐍂𐍉𐍄 (hrot), both meaning roof.^[7][4][5] Merriam-Webster Unabridged also compares Middle High German rāz (“bonfire, honeycomb”).^[9] Its further origin is unknown,^{[5][3][10][11]} or uncertain and disputed: the OED mentions a link with an Old Church Slavonic word for a fire or pyre, or with the base of hurdle.^[7] The verb is formed from the noun,^[7][5][3] and the OED compares roesten, recorded in Kiliaan in 1599.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The internal framework of a roof, formed by its rafters, or the space beneath it: in the Old English poem The Ruin.^[7] Late Old English already used it for a henhouse,^[7] and Barnhart dates the Old English word to before 1100.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Weekley thought the original sense was probably a loft or upper room,^[12] and Skeat that the first roost was on the rafters inside a roof.^[13] The roof sense survived in Scottish and northern use: the inner roof of a cottage,^[7][14] and in Orkney, in the form reest, a framework above the fire for drying fish and meat (1880).^[7] Through the henhouse the word came to mean the perch on which fowls sleep, first in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus (before 1398),^[7][3] then the resting place of wild birds, bats or insects (1593).^[7] Figuratively it became a resting place or bed in 1607,^[7] a sense Barnhart dates to 1818.^[3] The verb, of birds settling to rest, is recorded from 1530 in Palsgrave,^[7][3][9] and was used of people taking lodging from 1593 and of simply sitting down, colloquially, from 1816.^[7] The phrase to come home to roost, of an action that rebounds on the person who did it, is recorded from 1810;^[7] Etymonline dates chickens come home to roost to 1824, from an older proverb about curses.^[5] To rule the roost, from 1769, is apparently an alteration of to rule the roast;^[5][7] Weekley was not sure that roost was not the original form,^[12] and Etymonline quotes Fowler's doubts.^[5] Barnhart dates rooster to 1772, in American English, after the earlier roost cock (1606).^[3]

Timeline

• Old English – the framework of a roof; a loft.^[7][6]
• late Old English – a henhouse.^[7]
• before 1398 – a perch on which fowls sleep.^[7][3]
• before 1529 – to go to roost, of a bird.^[7]
• 1530 – verb, of birds, to settle for rest or sleep.^[7][3][9]
• 1593 – a place where birds or bats rest; verb, of a person, to lodge.^[7]
• 1607 – figurative, a resting place or bed.^[7]
• 1769 – to rule the roost.^[5]
• 1810 – to come home to roost.^[7]
• 1816 – verb, to sit down, perch (colloquial).^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A perch or branch on which birds rest, especially at night.^[15][9][7]
2. A place where birds or bats regularly settle to rest, or the group of birds resting there.^[9][7][11]
3. A henhouse, or the part of one where the birds perch.^[9][7][11]
4. A place to rest or stay, especially for the night.^[15][7]
5. (Scotland) The inner roof or rafters of a cottage.^[7][14]
6. rule the roost: to be in charge.^[15][5]
7. come home to roost: of a past action, to bring trouble on the person who did it.^[15][7]

Verb

1. Of birds, to rest or sleep on a roost: Starlings roost under the bridge in winter.^[15][9][7]
2. Of a person, to settle down or stay, especially for the night.^[15][7]

Word family

• rooster
• henroost
• unroosted

roost² tidal race

Etymology

The word for the tidal race is borrowed from Norn:^[7] the OED takes it from the unrecorded Norn cognate of Old Norse rǫst (“strong sea current, whirlpool”), Icelandic röst and Faroese røst, from the same Germanic base as wrest.^[7] Chambers, Collins, the Oxford Dictionary of English, the Shorter Oxford and Weekley derive it directly from Old Norse.^{[16][15][17][11][12]} Weekley asked whether it was related to race.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

A turbulent tidal race formed where conflicting currents meet, especially between Orkney and Shetland: 1654, in Blaeu's atlas of Scotland.^[7][18] Collins dates it to the 16th century.^[15]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed a local and nautical term of the northern isles: Smyth's Sailor's Word-Book names the races of Sumburgh and the Start,^[19] and Wright's English Dialect Dictionary records it in Shetland and Caithness, also spelled roust and rost, for the turbulent part of a firth where rapid tides meet.^[14] Merriam-Webster Unabridged has the form roust as English dialect.^[9]

Timeline

• 1654 – a tidal race between Orkney and Shetland.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A strong, turbulent tidal race where conflicting currents meet, especially off Orkney and Shetland.^[7][15][11]