ῥυτή

Forms

ῥῡτή (rhūtḗ) f (genitive ῥῡτῆς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is unexplained.^[2][3] Beekes suggests that it is Pre-Greek.^[2][1] Osthoff connected it with Latin rūmex (“sorrel”), and Krogmann thought that the Greek word and Latin rūta were borrowed separately from a Mediterranean language, but the Latin word is more probably a loan from the Greek.^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first texts are the poems of Nicander (2nd century BC), where it names rue (Ruta graveolens); a scholium on Nicander calls it the Peloponnesian word for the usual πήγανον (pḗganon).^[5][6][2]

Semantic evolution

It remained a regional and rare word beside the common πήγανον (pḗganon): the physician Aretaeus (2nd century AD) and the veterinary Hippiatrica use it, and Hesychius records a form ῥυτά for “white rue”.^[5][2][3] Rue was a favourite flavouring and medicine in antiquity.^[7]

Latin rūta, probably from the Greek, spread the name to Western Europe: Italian ruta, French rue, English rue (late 14th century) and German Raute.^[8][4][1][3] Medieval vernacular Greek still used ρυτή, beside ρούτα.^[9]

Timeline

• 2nd century BC – Nicander names rue ῥυτή in his poems.^[5][6][10]
• 2nd century AD – The physician Aretaeus uses it.^[5][10]
• 10th century AD – The Hippiatrica uses it.^[5][10]
• Late 14th century – English borrows rue through Old French, from Latin ruta.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. rue (Ruta graveolens), a Peloponnesian word for πήγανον (pḗganon).^[5][6][11]

Related words

• πήγανον (pḗganon)
• Latin ruta
• English rue

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
7. ^ Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth, eds. (2002–2010), Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
9. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
10. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
11. ^ Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg