Etymologically
Log in

rogne

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the French word rogne

rogne1 ringworm, scab

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1130 Anglo-Norman lapidaries
Inherited from
Latin *ronea via Old French
Ultimate origin
Latin arānea

Pronunciation

Forms

rogne f (plural rognes)[1] Old French ruinne (about 1130), roingne (about 1223); rongne in the 16th century, rogne from about 1480.[2][3]

Etymology

The word for the skin disease is inherited from Old French roigne, inherited from Vulgar Latin *ronea (“scab, mange”).[2][4][5][6] This is an altered form, under the influence of Latin rōdō (“to gnaw”), of arānea (“spider; cobweb”), which in Late Latin also named a skin disease: Cassius Felix uses it in 447 for herpes.[2][4][7] Unaltered, the Latin word survives only in Romanian râie (“scabies”).[4][7][2]

Cognate with Italian rogna, Spanish roña, Portuguese ronha, Catalan ronya and Occitan ronha.[2][7][3] Littré, following Ménage and Diez, derived it from Latin rōbīgō (“rust”), a contraction he himself found very strong.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

About 1130 the Anglo-Norman lapidaries have ruinne for an inveterate scab or mange.[2][8]

Semantic evolution

Rogne was long the popular name for inveterate scabies and ringworm in people and animals;[4][3] Littré quotes Charles IX's book of the hunt calling the dog's rongne a kind of leprosy.[4][3] In the 16th century one could “scratch someone's rogne”, as Bèze says of Calvin, and Agrippa d'Aubigné used the word of the troubles of Poitou.[3]

By analogy it named a disease of trees caused by damp (1562), the moss that grows on bark and spoils the wood (1676), and in 1842 an olive disease that covers the branches with small growths, and the dodder.[2][4] Today the medical sense is dated; it survives in veterinary use for the mange of pigs.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1130 – Ruinne appears in the Anglo-Norman lapidaries.[2]
  • c. 1130 – The adjective ruinnos, later rogneux, is recorded.[2]
  • c. 1223 – Gautier de Coinci writes roingne.[2]
  • c. 1480 – The spelling rogne appears in the Mistère du Viel Testament.[2]
  • 1562 – Du Pinet uses rongne for a disease of trees.[2][4]
  • 1676 – Félibien uses it for moss growing on bark.[2][4]
  • 1842 – The Académie's supplement records it for an olive disease and for the dodder.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (dated, pathology) Scabies or ringworm, especially an inveterate one;[2][1][3] (veterinary) the mange of pigs.[2][1][3]
  2. (botany, rural) Moss that grows on wood and spoils it; also a disease of olive trees with growths on the branches, and a popular name of the dodder.[2][3]

Word family

  • rogneux

rogne2 anger

Confidence
Established
Formation
Back-formation
First attested
1486 Jean Michel, Passion
Ultimate origin
Latin *retundio
Etymology tree of rogne2
inherited borrowed derived
French rogner
French rogne

Pronunciation

Forms

rogne f (plural rognes)[1]

Etymology

The word for anger is a back-formation from French rogner2 (“to grumble”), a verb formed on an imitative stem ⟨ron-⟩ expressing growling, as in grogner and gronder.[2][4][7][9] The verb is known mostly from the dialects, but its derivative rognonner is recorded in Normandy from 1556 and in Paris from 1680.[7][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Jean Michel's Passion (1486) has rongne for difficulties and disputes; the Grand Robert and Bloch–Wartburg date the sense “grumbling under one's breath” to 1501.[2][5][7]

Semantic evolution

For a long time the word lived mainly around Lyon and Geneva, in chercher rogne “to pick a quarrel”, and popular speech brought it to Paris towards the end of the 19th century.[7][2][4] The printers' slang of 1710 already has chercher la rogne à quelqu'un “to pick a quarrel with someone”.[2] The sense “bad temper, anger” is recorded in 1888, in Villatte's slang dictionary.[2][10]

Its use in politics and social life revived after General de Gaulle's la hargne, la rogne et la grogne in 1961.[2][10]

Timeline

  • 1486 – Rongne means difficulties, disputes, in Jean Michel's Passion.[2]
  • 1501 – It is used for grumbling under one's breath.[7][5]
  • 1710 – Printers' slang has chercher la rogne à quelqu'un.[2]
  • 1888 – Villatte records the sense “anger, bad temper”.[2]
  • 1896 – Delesalle records chercher rogne à quelqu'un.[2][11]
  • 1961 – De Gaulle's la hargne, la rogne et la grogne.[2][10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (familiar) Anger, bad temper: être en rogne, se mettre en rogne “to get angry”.[10][2][1]
  2. (popular, plural) Chercher des rognes à quelqu'un: to make trouble for someone, to pick a quarrel.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10, 469a
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  8. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  9. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10, 461b
  10. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  11. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Rogne.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/rogne. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·