rupta

Forms

rupta f (genitive ruptae); first declension^[1][2] Also spelt rutta and ruta,^[1] and rotta.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin rumpō (“to break”): the feminine of its past participle, used as a noun.^[1][2][3] Etymonline explains the sense “road” as a way broken open through a forest, and the sense “troop” as a band broken off, literally “a broken group”.^[3]

Through Old French it is the source of French route^[1][3] and of Old French rote (“troop”);^[2] Du Cange compares Italian rotta and French déroute, “defeat”.^[4] Köbler also lists German Rotte (“band, troop”) among its later reflexes.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first record is a charter of 954,^[2] and Niermeyer gives medieval senses ranging from a canal or trench to a band of marauders.^[1]

Semantic evolution

In medieval documents the word covers several things made by breaking: a dug canal or trench, a forest clearing brought under cultivation, a path cleared through woodland and, by extension of the idea of a broken-off group, a band of marauders or routiers.^[1][2] Du Cange adds the senses of cultivated land and of a company of ruptarii, a road in a forest (in a charter of 1334, compared with French route), a street (1351), a ditch (in an Este chronicle under the year 1309), and, in an Italian chronicle, a defeat, like Italian rotta.^[4]

English took the road sense through Old French as route around 1200, and the military sense of a disorderly flight later as rout.^[3]

Timeline

• 954 – It first appears in a charter.^[2]
• c. 1200 – English route “a way, a road” is borrowed from Old French.^[3]
• 1309 – An Este chronicle uses it of a ditch dug outside Ferrara.^[4]
• 1334 – A charter uses it for roads in a forest.^[4]
• 1590s – English rout “a defeat followed by disorderly flight” is borrowed from French.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) A canal, trench, ditch.^[1][4][2]
2. (Medieval Latin) A forest clearing; land newly brought under cultivation.^[1][4][2]
3. (Medieval Latin) A path or road cleared through woodland; a street.^[1][4][2]
4. (Medieval Latin) A band of marauders, a troop.^[1][4][2]
5. (Medieval Latin) A defeat, rout.^[4]

Related words

• rumpō
• English route
• English rout

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre