ruth

See also: Ruth

English

From Middle English reuþe, ruthe, reuthe, rewthe, reowthe, corresponding to rue +‎ -th, perhaps after early Scandinavian (compare Old Norse hrygð, hryggð (“ruth, sorrow”)).

ruth (countable and uncountable, plural ruths)

(archaic) Sorrow for the misery of another; pity, compassion; mercy. [from 13th c.]
- 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 11, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
  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 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter IV, in Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 57:
  […] 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!
(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.
(obsolete) Sorrow; misery; distress. [13th–19th c.][1]
(obsolete) Something which causes regret or sorrow; a pitiful sight. [13th–17th c.]

pity — see pity

sorrow — see sorrow

repentance — see repentance

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