If You Can Be Ruthless, Can You Be Ruth?

I was reading something recently and the word ruth was used. Not the name Ruth, but the word. I do not recall ever seeing this simple word before; ruthless, yes, but not ruth. Yet if Ruth can be ruthless one should be able to be ruth, right?

Ruth (the word, not the name) and ruthless are opposite, and ruthless is more commonly used. It means at least without pity, mercy or compassion, but can mean cruel. So it makes sense that ruth means pity or compassion. It also can mean sorry, remorse or grief, or even self-reproach.

Ruthless is an adjective, while ruth is a noun. Ruthless came to English in the early 1300s after ruth had been around for over 100 years. Ruth may have come from an Old Norse word, hryggô, but may have formed from the work reuwen, meaning to rue. If it were the latter the word would follow the same form as true and truth. It was originally spelled ruthe. There was in the 1300s an adjective ruthful, but it has not been used since the 1600s.

Ruth, the name, comes from the Bible; Ruth was an ancestor of David and is probably a contraction of the word for companion, friend, or fellow woman, reuth. Ruth was a friend and companion to Naomi, which in English is a name only.

Since we’re on names, I mentioned in a recent post that we would get to the name Althea. While the marsh mallow plant belongs to the genus Althea, the more common use of althea is as the name of the plant known as the rose of Sharon, hibiscus syriacus. Althea is a variation of the Greek name Althaea, which may be related to the Greek word for healing, althos. It is not one of the more common names in English, and I mentioned one famous person with that name, Althea Gibson. In 1956 Althea Gibson was the first person of color to win a Grand Slam tennis event, something the Williams sisters (Venus, named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty, and Serena, from the Latin word serenus that means clear and tranquil) have replicated numerous times. Althea Gibson was also the first black player to compete on the women’s professional golf tour.

Rose of Sharon was first used in English in the 1611 translation of the Bible authorized by King James. It is a mistranslation of the Hebrew word for crocus. But it does grow in the Sharon valley.  I work with a Rose of Mexico City.

Women’s names that are also English words are more common than men’s names. Faith, Hope and Charity are all used in one verse of the Bible (I Cor. 13:13) and are also women’s names. While the aforementioned Venus is a woman’s name, I have yet to encounter a man whose first name is Mars. My brothers Don and Bob come close; there are words don and bob. But Don is short for Donald while Bob is a nickname for Robert. I don’t know how you get from Robert to Bob any more than I know how you get from Lawrence (not my given name) to Larry (my given name, but usually a nickname of Lawrence.)

I’m still waiting to see the trio Faith Hill, Hope Solo, and Charity Zisengwe in concert together. Chastity Bono (now Chaz) could be Hope’s dance partner, since they were both on Dancing with the Stars. Chaz also was the writer of most of the songs and lead singer of the music group Ceremony, so he could do double duty.

Other than that, what’s in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.