Etymologically
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ruga

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈruː.ɡa][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈruː.ɡa][1]

Forms

rūga f (genitive rūgae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *rougā, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₁roug-h₂- (“wrinkle”).[2][1] De Vaan connects it most readily with ērūgō (“to belch”), since words for wrinkles and creases often come from a verb “to be rough”, which also gives verbs for belching.[2] A connection with runcō (“to weed”) and Lithuanian raũkas (“wrinkle”), which the OLD compares, is not directly possible because the consonants differ.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Titinius,[2] the OLD's first example of a wrinkle of old age.[3]

Semantic evolution

It is a crease or wrinkle in the skin, usually in the plural: of old age, as Cicero's “neither white hair nor wrinkles can suddenly seize authority”, and of frowning, as Varro's furrowing of the brow.[3][4] Pliny the Elder uses it of creases on pepper dried in the sun and of the grooves of horns.[3]

In medieval texts it came to mean a track, a street, a row of houses or a quarter of a town.[5][1] Church Latin glosses it “wrinkle”.[6]

Timeline

  • late 2nd–early 1st century BC – Titinius of wrinkles of old age.[3][2]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro of frowning.[3][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of the wrinkles of old men.[4][7]
  • Middle Ages – A street or road.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A wrinkle in the skin, of old age or frowning.[3][4][1]
  2. A crease, fold; a shallow groove.[3][1]
  3. (Medieval Latin) A track, road; a street; a row of houses, a quarter.[5][1]

Word family

  • ērūgō

Usage notes

Rūga was also a Roman surname: Spurius Carvilius Ruga's divorce was said to be the first in Rome.[4][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de