Etymology

Formed on ME runkel n. (on which see MED s.v., OED s.v. runkle n.).  Conventionally (e.g. TGD and GDS) derived from ON, cp. OIcel hrukka ‘wrinkle’ and OSw runkia, supposing a PGmc *xrunkwōn, and for the  l-suffix cp. specifically Norw dial rukla, Orkn. ruckle, Shetl. rukkel. If it is a loan, it represents a form without OWN assimilation of /nk/ > /kk/, and may be contrasted with PDE ruck ‘crease, wrinkle’, which is normally derived from an assimilated variant of the same word (see OED s.v. ruck n.2).  The Scandinavian nouns are to be connected with OIcel v. hrøkkva ‘to drive back, beat, whip’ < PGmc *xrenkwan-, which has no clear cognates elsewhere in Germanic.

PGmc Ancestor

*xrunkwōn

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

hrukka ‘wrinkle’
(ONP hrukka (sb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Far rukka, Icel hrukka, Norw rukke, Dan rynke, OSw runkia, Sw rynka

OE Cognate

Phonological and morphological markers

Summary category

BB1c

Attestation

The majority of the handful of ME occurrences (from Cursor) of both the n. and derived pp./adj. are N or EM.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 953

Bibliography

MED runklen (v.) , OED3 runkled (adj.) , HTOED , Dance ronkled, Bj. 179n2, 253 (Dial. Prov. 23 (and n.2)), de Vries hrukka, Mag. hrukka