v. (3rd sg past)
Reflex., in phrase rimed hym: (1) ‘cleared his throat’; (2) ‘drew himself up’
(Modern English rime)Early editors were stumped as to the identity of the v. in the phrase rimed hym at Gaw 308 (‘When non wolde kepe hym with carp he coʒed ful hyʒe, / Ande rimed hym ful richely, and ryʒt hym to speke’) and the two possible interpretations proposed subsequently remain contested: (1) Assuming from the context that rimed denotes some kind of noise, viz. the Green Knight clearing his throat (Morris 1869 revision, GDS 308n, CA, Barron, Jones, Borroff etc.), two (unrelated) Scandinavian words have been adduced: (a) Morris (1869, followed by Kullnick 16) compared Dan rømme sig ‘to hem, to clear one’s throat’ , i.e. a usage of the same Scandinavian v. as OIcel rýma ‘to make room for; quit, leave; clear away, break up; make room, clear the way’ (cp. further ODan rym(m)æ, Norw rømme, OSw ryma), < PGmc *rūmjan- (see further (2) below). A borrowing of ON rýma would be formally apposite, but there is no good evidence that a reflex. construction with the right sense existed in ON; the Dan idiom seems to be isolated and is probably a relatively recent development. Also conceivably, a reflex. usage of ME rimen < the OE cognate rȳman (see (2) below) could have acquired this same meaning independently. (b) GDS (308n) additionally cites OIcel rymja ‘to roar, cry out with a hoarse voice’, evidently to be related to the OIcel n. rymr ‘roaring (of a hoarse voice); (poetic) clatter of weapons’, and perh. to Scandinavian words with similar meanings but different vocalism (e.g. OIcel rámr ‘hoarse’, remja ‘to roar (of a lion)’ (< *ram-). There is no general agreement as to its ulterior etymology, but some have connected it with the root of OE rȳn ‘to roar, rage’. A loan of ON rymja would again be a good match for ME rimed, but it is more difficult to see how a trans. usage could have come about so as to underlie the reflex. rimed hym at Gaw 308. (2) Since OED, it has become more usual to derive rimed < OE (ge)rȳman ‘to clear, open up; widen, extend, prolong, enlarge; make room, retire, yield’ (cp. OIcel rýma (and further (1a) above), OFris rēma, OS rūmian, OHG rūmen), representing a PGmc *rumjan- derived on the n. as in OE rūm ‘space (extent or time), room; scope, opportunity’, Go rūm, OIcel rúm etc. Despite the objection by GDS (that OE rȳman ‘cannot bear the sense of “stretched”’), there is plentiful support in ME and PDE dial usage for reflexes of the OE v. making broadly similar reference to things being enlarged, expanded etc., and so a reflex. construction with the sort of sense proposed seems very plausible (see further Dance).
PGmc Ancestor
(1a) and (2) *rūmjan-
Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)
(1b) rymja ‘to roar, cry out with a hoarse voice’
(ONP (1b) rymja (vb.))
Other Scandinavian Reflexes
(1a) Dan rømme sig, ODan rym(m)æ, Norw rømme, OSw ryma; (1b) Far rymja, ryma, Icel rymja, OSw rymia
OE Cognate
(1a) and (2) (ge)rȳman ‘to clear, open up; widen, extend, prolong, enlarge; make room, retire, yield’
Phonological and morphological markers
Summary category
DD2
(1) There are no other known instances of a ME rimen (PDE *rime) ‘to clear the throat’. (2) ME rimen ‘to retreat; clear; expand’ (etc.) is fairly widespread from LB onwards.
Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus
Gaw 308