Etymology

There are two main interpretations of the n. rout at Gaw 457 (‘With a runisch rout þe raynez he tornez’). The first, and thus native derivation (though with the possibility of ON input), is the most likely, but derivation from a second ON source is just conceivable: (1) Most authorities identify rout with ME rout, which generally means ‘blow’ (MED sense (b), OED sense (2)), but the idea of pulling is clearly attested for the related v. (as PS 457n remark), and thus Gaw rout is usually interpreted as denoting some sort of ‘jerk’ or ‘sharp pull’ (though GDS prefers ‘rush’). The v. in question (MED’s rǒuten v.4 ‘to rush, move quickly; pull, drag, draw; strike, strike a blow’ (etc.) = OED3 s.v. rout v.3) is much better attested than the n. and is always regarded as its source, but the ulterior etymology of this v. (referred to below as (a)) presents numerous difficulties, not least the matter of its relationship with homophonous Gmc verbs of different sense (esp. MED’s rǒuten v.2, OED3’s rout v.1 ‘to snore’ etc. (referred to here as (b)). The two verbs are traditionally separated by etymological dictionaries.  Verb (a) ‘to rush’ etc. is most clearly witnessed in Scand, viz. OIcel hrjóta ‘to rebound, fall, fly, be flung’ (though perh. cp. also MHG rūzen ‘to move quickly’). It has usually been connected ult. to the PIE root of PGmc *hreusan- and/or of OPrus krūt (both basically ‘to fall’). Verb (b) ‘to snore’ etc. is more widely attested in Gmc, inc. clearly by an OE hrūtan (see below) as well as OIcel hrjóta (variant rjóta) ‘to snore’, OFris hrūta, rūta, OS hrūtan, MDu rūten, OHG rūzan, rūzōn, and is prob. of imitative origin. But since these two verbs are formally identical, and there is certainly semantic common ground between them, it has also been suggested that they are etymologically one and the same; in that case, the meanings of verb (a) (‘to rush’ etc.) could quite plausibly be explained by development from those of verb (b), ‘perhaps via a sense “to move swiftly and noisily”’ (thus OED3 s.v. rout v.3, and see also Seebold). Moreover, it is hard to be sure for some instances of OE hrūtan whether we have reflexes of both (a) and (b) or only of (b). Thus while most occurrences unambiguously mean 'to snore', it is possible to understand Rid35 7 <hrutende> (= LRid 7 <hrutendu>) (‘ne æt me hrutende hrisil scriþeð’) with a similar basic sense of noisiness, viz. in context ‘whizzing, rushing’, and to classify it as belonging to the same v., or equally to take the underlying meaning as 'moving swiftly' (as does e.g. OED3 sv. rout v. 6). If we follow OED (as do GDS and TGD), then we may assume that a vb. hrūtan denoting violent movement already existed in OE, in which case there is no difficulty in explaining ME rout as of native derivation. However if we do not accept the evidence for such a meaning in OE as unambiguous, we may wish to try to account for the sense of rout by adducing some influence on the semantic range of OE hrūtan from ON hrjóta, which could mean both ‘to snore’ and ‘to rebound’ (etc.). Whether or not the verbs cited under groups (a) and (b) above are etymologically identical, an endogenous English semantic change from ‘make a noise, snore etc.’ > ‘whizz, rush, move violently’ (via just such contexts as that in Rid35) is inherently very plausible. (2) TG proposed an alternative that subquent editors have found less likely in context (see Wright 1935: 159), taking the word as referring to some sound uttered by the Green Knight and thus glossing it ‘roar’. TG (seemingly followed by McGee 343) derive the word from the stem of the ON v. represented by OIcel rauta ‘to roar’ (and cp. further Norw raut ‘lowing sound, bellow (of cattle), roar’); this is probably an Ablaut variant of PGmc *reutan- (as in OE rēotan ‘to weep, mourn, wail’, cp. OIcel rjóta, OHG riozan).  There are no other known instances of such a n. in ME, but a v. ME routen ‘to cry out, roar, bellow’ is recorded, and has also been derived from ON rauta (OED, MED and Bj). The spelling <ou> is not otherwise clearly attested as a reflex of VAN /au, ɔu/ in the Gaw MS (see further rous), however; and, notwithstanding the rhyme on another word probably containing ON au at Havelok 1911 (ME bloute ‘soft’ < ON blautr; see Bj.), these words are (as Luttrell 1955: 211 remarks) not always easy to distinguish in either form or sense from ME and later (mainly Scots) rout- denoting the noise esp. of the sea or thunder, and probably to be explained as < PGmc *hrūt- as at (1) above.

PGmc Ancestor

(1) *xreut- or *xrūt-; (2) *raut-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

(1) hrjóta ‘to rebound, fall, fly, be flung’; (2) rauta ‘to roar’
(ONP (1) hrjóta (2) (vb.); (2) rauta (vb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

(1) Far róta, Icel hrjóta, Norw ryta, rjota, OSw riuta; (2) Icel rauta, Norw rauta, OSw röta, Sw dial röta, routa

OE Cognate

(1) hrūtan 'to snore'

Phonological and morphological markers

[ON /au/ < PGmc */au/] (may not be applicable)

Summary category

DD2

Attestation

(1) ME rout is otherwise recorded by MED (always meaning ‘a blow; ?also suffering, woe’) from a handful of 15c. texts. For later occurrences (mainly Scots) see OED, and EDD (s.v. rout sb.5, v.5; Scots only).  (2) OED records a n. rout from the early 16c. (‘a bellow or lowing sound, as of cattle’, from 1513 onwards; ‘clamour, uproar; an outcry, a loud shout’, from a1522 onwards).  The related v. ME routen is found in Havelok and a handful of 15c. citations, chiefly N/EM.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 457

Bibliography

MED rǒut(e (n.3) , OED3 rout (n.2) , HTOED , Dance rout; (1) de Vries hrjóta (2), Mag. hrjóta (2), Seebold hreut-a- (1); hrūt-a-, Orel *xreutanan ~ *xrūtanan (I); *xreutanan ~ *xrūtanan (II), Kroonen *hreutan- ~ *hrūtan-, AEW hrūtan, OED3 rout (v.1) , OED3 rout (v.3) , MED rǒuten (v.2) ; rǒuten (v.4) ; (2) OED3 rout (n.3) , OED3 rout (v.4) , MED routen (v.1) , de Vries rauta, Mag. rauta, Bj-L. raute, Kroonen *rautōjan-, Bj. 72