Ruth

//ɹuːθ// name, noun

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A book of the Old Testament and the Hebrew Tanakh.
  2. 2
    The resident of Moab around whom the text centers.

    "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. 3
    A female given name from Hebrew.

    "Her face hardened. "I despise pity." "In spite of your name? Ruth is your name, isn't it? Piquant that. Ruth the ruthless.""

  4. 4
    A census-designated place in White Pine County, Nevada, United States.
  5. 5
    A census-designated place in Trinity County, California, United States.
Noun
  1. 1
    Sorrow for the misery of another; pity, compassion; mercy. archaic, countable, uncountable

    "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[…]."

  2. 2
    a feeling of sympathy and sorrow for the misfortunes of others wordnet
  3. 3
    Repentance; regret; remorse. archaic, countable, uncountable

    "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 […]."

  4. 4
    Sorrow; misery; distress. countable, obsolete, uncountable
  5. 5
    Something which causes regret or sorrow; a pitiful sight. countable, obsolete, uncountable

Etymology

Etymology 1

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

Etymology 2

From Ruth the Moabite, Hebrew רות, of uncertain origin, possibly meaning "companion". Also associated with the English noun ruth (“compassion”) by Puritans.

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