English

Proper noun

Ruth

1. A book of the Old Testament and the Hebrew Tanakh.
2. Ruth, the resident of Moab around whom the text centers.
   • 1611, Bible (KJV), Ruth 1:16:

     And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.

3. A female given name.
   • 1945 Agatha Christie, Sparkling Cyanide, HarperCollins (2010), ISBN 978-0-00-735470-2, page 30:

     Her face hardened.

     "I despise pity."

     "In spite of your name? Ruth is your name, isn't it? Piquant that. Ruth the ruthless."

   • 1982 Anne Tyler, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, Fawcett Columbine, 1996, ISBN 0449911594, page 134

     He pictured the woman as dark and Biblical, because of her name: Ruth. Shadowed eyes and creamy skin. Torrents of loose black hair.

Usage notes

• The given name was rarely used by non-Jews in the Middle Ages. Taken into regular use by Puritans. Popular from the 1890s to the 1920s, particularly in the USA.

Translations

Anagrams

• hurt, thru, Thur, thur

Danish

Proper noun

Ruth

1. Ruth (biblical character).
2. A female given name of biblical origin.

References

• Danskernes Navne, based on CPR data: 31 594 females with the given name Ruth have been registered in Denmark between about 1890 (=the population alive in 1967) and January 2005, with the frequency peak in the 1920s. Accessed on April 14th, 2011.

Dutch

Pronunciation

Proper noun

Ruth ?

1. The eighth book of the Bible.

Estonian

Proper noun

Ruth

1. A female given name of biblical origin, variant of Rutt.

German

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -uːt

Proper noun

Ruth

1. Ruth (biblical character).
2. A female given name.

Norwegian

Etymology

From Vulgate Latin Ruth, from Hebrew רות, cognate with English Ruth. Used as a given name since the 18th century. Equivalent to the modern Norwegian biblical Rut.

Proper noun

Ruth

1. A female given name.

References

• Kristoffer Kruken - Ola Stemshaug: Norsk personnamnleksikon, Det Norske Samlaget, Oslo 1995, ISBN 82-521-4483-7
• Statistisk sentralbyrå, Namnestatistikk: 9707 females with the given name Ruth, compared to 385 named Rut, living in Norway on January 1st 2011, with the frequency peak in the 1920s. Accessed on April 14th 2011.

Spanish

Etymology

An etymological spelling under the influence of English Ruth.

Proper noun

Ruth f

1. A female given name.
2. Alternative spelling of Rut
   • 1922, Federico García Lorca, Primeras Canciones, Cuatro Baladas Amarillas, III:

     Los bueyes / siempre van suspirando / por los campos de Ruth / en busca del vado, / del eterno vado, / borrachos de luceros / a rumiarse sus llantos.

Swedish

Etymology

From Vulgate Latin Ruth, from Hebrew רות. First recorded as a given name in 1621.

Proper noun

Ruth

1. A female given name, an alternative spelling of Rut.

References

• Roland Otterbjörk: Svenska förnamn, Almqvist & Wiksell 1996, ISBN 91-21-10937-0
• Statistiska centralbyrån: 14 540 females with the given name Ruth, compared to 23 268 named Rut, living in Sweden on December 31st, 2010, with the frequency peak in the 1920s. Accessed on April 14th, 2011.

English

Noun

ruth ‎(uncountable)

1. (archaic) Sorrow for the misery of another; pity, compassion; mercy. [from 13th c.]
   • 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essayes, London: Edward Blount, OCLC 946730821, II.11:

     It was my fortune to be at Rome, upon a day that one Catena, a notorious high-way theefe, was executed: at his strangling no man of the companie seemed to be mooved to any ruth […].

   • 1847, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapter IV, 1859, New York, Harper & Brothers, page 14:

     under her light eyebrows glimmered an eye devoid of ruth […].

   • 2011, Turisas (Mathias Nygård), Hunting Pirates

     Scum they are! —Foe of mankind!

     Clear the sea! —Show no ruth!

2. (now rare) Repentance; regret; remorse. [from 13th c.]
   • 1896, A. E. Housman, A Shropshire Lad, XLIV, 2005, The Works of A. E. Housman [1994, The Collected Poems of A. E. Housman], page 61,

     Now to your grave shall friend and stranger / With ruth and some with envy come […].

   • ~1937, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fall of Arthur

     He mourned too late

     In ruth for the rending of the Round Table.

3. (obsolete) Sorrow; misery; distress. 13th-19th c.
4. (obsolete) Something which causes regret or sorrow; a pitiful sight. [13th-17th c.]

Derived terms

• ruthful
• ruthless

Translations

Anagrams

• hurt, thru, Thur, thur