rotinn

Forms

rotinn adj^[1]

Etymology

It is in origin the past participle of a strong verb that is not recorded, *rjóta (“to decay, fall apart”),^[2][3][4] which is inherited from Proto-Germanic *reutaną (“to rot”).^[5][6] Torp sets up the same Germanic verb, with the meaning “to rot, properly to fall apart”.^[7] The weak verbs of the West Germanic languages, Old English rotian (“to rot”), Old Saxon rotōn and Old High German rōzēn, are formed on the zero grade of that verb, as is Old Norse rotna (“to rot”).^[8][9] Köbler connects it with Proto-Indo-European *reud- (“to tear”).^[6]

Jóhannesson, as de Vries reports, sets the lost verb beside reyta (“to pluck, tear”),^[2][10] and Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon also refers to it.^[3] De Vries and Köbler treat the poetic homonym meaning “bald” as a separate adjective, related to that verb and to rýja (“to pluck wool”),^[2][5] while Cleasby and Vigfússon take it as a use of “rotten”, of hair that falls out through decay.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Menota's earliest record is in Holm perg 6 fol, of 1250–1300, with the spellings rottenn, rotet and rotens.^[12] Fritzner quotes the word's typical use from the saga of Barlaam: eptir dauða mannsins, er hann er rotinn ok at moldu orðinn “after the man's death, when he has rotted and turned to earth”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The adjective describes decay: of dead bodies and bones, of houses, of wine gone bad, and of paper and vellum.^[4][11] Of hides and wool it meant that the hair had come away through rotting, so that a rotið skinn was contrasted with a shorn one;^[11] in poetry it means “bald”, as in rotinn skalli “bald pate”.^[13] It was also a word of contempt for an old man, gamall karl ráðlauss ok rotinn.^[4][14]

It continues as Icelandic rotinn, also “corrupt”,^[3] and the mainland forms Swedish rutten and Danish rådden.^[15] Middle English roten, the English word rotten, is usually derived from the Norse participle.^[16][17][2] Etymonline dates it c. 1300.^[18]

Timeline

• 1250–1300 – rottenn, rotet, rotens in Holm perg 6 fol.^[12]
• c. 1300 – Middle English roten, from the Norse word.^[18][17]
• 1320–1350 – rotins in Njáls saga, AM 132 fol.^[19]

Meanings

Adjective

1. rotten, decayed, putrefied.^[1][11][20]
2. of hides or sheep: having lost the hair or wool through rotting.^[11][14]
3. (poetic) bald, hairless.^[13][5]
4. (contemptuous) of an old man: decrepit.^[4][14]

Word family

• úrotinn

Descendants

• Icelandic rotinn^[21]
• Faroese rotin^[3]
• Norwegian Nynorsk roten^[21]
• Swedish rutten^[21]
• Danish rådden^[21]
• Norwegian Bokmål råtten^[21]
• English rotten^[16][17]

Related words

• rotna
• rot
• reyta

Usage notes

Rotinn was also a nickname: Auðunn rotinn in Landnámabók.^[13][11]

References

1. ^ a b Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. rotinn
2. ^ a b c d de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 452
3. ^ a b c d Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. rotinn
4. ^ a b c d e Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. rotinn
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard, Altnordisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary database copy), p. s.v. rotinn
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *reutan
7. ^ Torp, Alf (1909), Wortschatz der germanischen Spracheinheit (Fick, Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der indogermanischen Sprachen, 4th ed., vol. 3), Göttingen, p. 350
8. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *rutēn
9. ^ Dance, Richard; Pons-Sanz, Sara; Schorn, Brittany, eds., The Gersum Project: The Scandinavian Influence on English Vocabulary, gersum.org, p. s.v. rot
10. ^ Jóhannesson, Alexander (1956), Isländisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern, p. 709
11. ^ a b c d e f Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 502
12. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. Holm perg 6 fol
13. ^ a b c Sveinbjörn Egilsson (1860), Lexicon poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, Hafniæ: Societas regia antiquariorum septentrionalium, p. 672
14. ^ a b c Möbius, Theodor (1866), Altnordisches Glossar, Leipzig: Teubner, p. 351
15. ^ Hellquist, Elof (1922), Svensk etymologisk ordbok, Lund, p. s.v. rutten
16. ^ a b Dance, Richard; Pons-Sanz, Sara; Schorn, Brittany, eds., The Gersum Project: The Scandinavian Influence on English Vocabulary, gersum.org, p. s.v. roten
17. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018), p. s.v. roten
18. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com, p. s.v. rotten
19. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 132 fol
20. ^ Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 506
21. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org