Ruth and Boaz -- Rembrandt
But Ruth said,
“Do not press me to leave you, to turn back from following you!
Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge;
your people shall be my people and your God my God.
Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried.
May the Lord do thus to me, and more as well,
if even death parts me from you!”
Ruth 1: 16-17 NRSVue
When we were married 50 years ago one of the passages of scripture in our ceremony was from the short but captivating Old Testament book of Ruth. Ruth has it all with environmental refugeeism, the sorrow of loss, unconventional kinship, a bit of sexual intrigue, With several happy endings. All in four short chapters!
In hindsight we might have chosen a passage which wasn't about a biblical woman's loyalty but it was hard to resist given that it was a Ruth who was was getting married and the words are powerful.
From time to time through the years we have chuckled over the use of the word "ruthless" to describe hard-heartedness and even wondered it someone can be "ruthed" or "ruthful." Turns out you can.
If someone can be ruthless, can one also be ruthful?
Ruthless can be defined as "without ruth" or "having no ruth." So what, then, is ruth? The noun ruth, which is now considerably less common than ruthless, means "compassion for the misery of another," "sorrow for one's own faults," or "remorse." And, just as it is possible for one to be without ruth, it is also possible to be full of ruth. The antonym of ruthless is ruthful, meaning "full of ruth" or "tender." Ruthful can also mean "full of sorrow" or "causing sorrow." Ruth can be traced back to the Middle English noun ruthe, itself from ruen, meaning "to rue" or "to feel regret, remorse, or sorrow."
Ruth has always been a compassionate person so that definition is a good fit. You may not want this arcane lesson in word origin but I would ask that you refain from being ruthless in any response.
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