An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Roggen

by Friedrich Kluge

Roggen, masculine, for the genuine High German Rocke, Rocken (in Bavarian and Hessian, Korn is almost invariably used), ‘rye.’ The gg of the Modern High German written form is either Low German or Swiss (see Egge in list of corrections); in Middle High German rocke, Old High German rocko, masculine, ‘rye, secale’; corresponding to Old Saxon roggo, Dutch rogge. Upper German, as well as Low German and Frisian, imply the primary form *rŭggn-. On the other hand, English and Scandinavian assume a Gothic *rŭgi-; compare Anglo-Saxon ryge, English rye, and the equivalent Old Icelandic rŭgr. Pre-Teutonic rughi- is proved by Lithuanian rugýs, ‘rye-corn’ (rugei, plural, ‘rye’), Old Slovenian rŭżĭ, ‘rye’ (Greek ὄρυζα, ‘rice,’ from Sanscrit vrĭhi, is not allied). Among the East Aryans this term is wanting.