Etymology

Most plausibly derived from ON, cp. OIcel rót ‘root’ and usually associated with Go waúrts, OE wyrt, OS wurt, OHG wurz, OIcel urt ‘plant, root’, whose PGmc source *wurt-iz then represents a zero-grade formation (< *wṛt-), and *wrōt- > *rót the relic of some other grade; in that case it is likely to be cognate with Lat rādīx ‘root’ and Grk hrādix ‘root’ from a PIE *wreH2d- (full grade + laryngeal) (see especially Bj-L. and Griepentrog 458–61). Onomastic evidence for an OE *rōt ‘root’ in M and S place-names however has been used to argue for a native derivation (Hough 1996), though the broader etymology makes this less likely, and to that extent the loss of initial /w/ supposed by the foregoing etymology cannot necessarily be assumed.

PGmc Ancestor

*wrōt- 

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

rót 'root'
(ONP rót (1) (sb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Far rót, Icel rót, Norw rot, Dan rod, Sw rot

OE Cognate

Phonological and morphological markers

[ON loss of initial */w/- before /r/] (may not be applicable)

Summary category

B1

Attestation

Common and widespread since 12c.; For late OE occurrences see Peters 97, SPS 322.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 2294; Pe 420; Cl 619; Pat 467; WA 409, 3941, 4424 etc.

Bibliography

MED rōte (n.4) , OED3 root (n.1) , HTOED , Dance rotez, Bj. 179n2, 252 (Dial. Prov. 23), SPS 64–5, 322, de Vries rót (1), Mag. rót (1), Joh. 155–6, Bj-L. rot, Orel  *wrōtiz, Kroonen *wrōt, AEW rōt (1)