{"id":23391,"date":"2024-04-17T14:15:14","date_gmt":"2024-04-17T14:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=23391"},"modified":"2024-04-17T14:18:12","modified_gmt":"2024-04-17T14:18:12","slug":"ruffled-rifles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=23391","title":{"rendered":"Ruffled Rifles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The words <strong>rifle<\/strong> and <strong>ruffle<\/strong> sound similar, but are they related? Let&#8217;s find out.<\/p>\n<p>A <strong>rifle<\/strong> is a firearm fired from the shoulder with a long, rifled barrel, which increases range and improves accuracy. It is short for &#8220;rifled gun&#8221;, referring to the spiral grooves inside the barrel (rifling). <\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/valeriebb\/28786451942\/in\/photolist-KRL6fW-f5VZ7-fQ29Tz-g4wJYT-7MSTjo-qz699g-f3cadw-zvzMsz-yyGgzT-8KwQpe-89phcd-fGvinX-af416Z-yyxYjN-g4wxfJ-g4wDGu-g4wPvC-9xuX7v-4tNRrx-h6xVu-6fX74q-bxHhyv-nGV9n-T3mgKA-f5VZ8-8QgS1f-8pqUzA-n4NGin-ztgKLh-zuvbbU-dywrzq-yyy2eL-zws5Z4-dnHVW-ze4Jyi-dnNbW-dnNbX-bgHLM-h6zZK-nGWq7-h6zZL-nGWqb-24MVhrA-24AZPUz-76aeZh-nGV96-2op4iEL-nGWq5-nGWpX-YAGSG2\" title=\"Rifles\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/8337\/28786451942_2878d2c3b0_z.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"467\" alt=\"Rifles\"\/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>It comes from Middle English <em>riflen<\/em> (to rob, plunder, search through), from Old French <em>rifler<\/em> (to lightly scratch, scrape off, plunder), from Proto-Germanic <em>*r\u012bfan\u0105<\/em> (to tear, rend), from Proto-Indo-European <em>*h\u2081reyp-<\/em> (to tear) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/rifle#English\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>A <strong>ruffle<\/strong> is any gathered or curled strip of fabric added as trim or decoration; or a disturbance, agitation or commotion. <\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/cimorenegal\/1253358111\/in\/photolist-2UKMGB-9Nndd6-55cjtj-9NncrX-2iDWMRx-r4ikeo-tFPeyQ-2UQctC-bNJXG-2n3dhd9-BzqB3G-8VRpg2-4jpn8-W6GYgM-5ac3v3-2nWErHp-2ow99FL-bWUzkk-2iB4uGX-2jdGXrJ-U5yV4y-4f1UWH-52Bnt7-DMpsEp-6YR4qA-2oBfeSV-bFKCwK-hWay5X-8ewv91-9vj6aU-8UVs6v-9xzFqC-p77Vbg-6Y9t7H-oRSx2M-UijADL-fBD46z-2j2CFm1-7DvjsK-7RAUXM-h5J2ws-2mFmxmM-87qWNZ-auvqq-cB4P55-2mySuHU-v7PFEb-2j3JnBa-2nwZyiF-7Dvm7g\" title=\"Ruffly Stuff\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/1192\/1253358111_ee7d39c30c_z.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" alt=\"Ruffly Stuff\"\/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>It comes from Middle English <em>ruffelen<\/em>, perhaps from Old Norse <em>hrufla<\/em> (to graze, scratch), or Middle Low German <em>ruffelen<\/em> (to wrinkle, curl). Beyond that, the etymology is not certain [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/ruffle#English\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>So it seems that <strong>rifle<\/strong> and <strong>ruffle<\/strong> are not related.<\/p>\n<p>Words that do come from the same roots as <strong>rifle<\/strong> include <strong>rift<\/strong>, <strong>rip<\/strong> and <strong>rope<\/strong> in English; <strong>rive<\/strong> (bank [of a river]) in French, and <strong>arriba<\/strong> (above, over, up) in Spanish [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European\/h%E2%82%81reyp-\">source<\/a>]. <\/p>\n<p>Words that do come from the same roots as <strong>ruffle<\/strong> include <strong>ruff<\/strong> in English, and <strong>hrufla<\/strong> (to graze, scratch) in Icelandic [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/ruffle\">source<\/a>]. <\/p>\n<p>The English word <strong>riffle<\/strong> (a swift, shallow part of a stream causing broken water; a succession of small waves; a quick skim through the pages of a book; to ruffle with a rippling action, etc) is possibly an alteration of <strong>ruffle<\/strong> [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/riffle#English\">source<\/a>]. <\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/andrewbain\/5179406252\/in\/photolist-8TFP2N-6KfyVY-cmMBx-KgJQ48-RRttzy-2oGP5vP-BQtWqY-nCKuYk-SrReqq-5MM2VN-XJPEQJ-2kB2FXK-6A6dVt-DXpvZq-44i2tL-5c9ua5-5c9ueA-fKaZjY-KSqrK-estQZd-KSf8G-2iDWhJJ-2j3Jubx-KSqt2-2ifwXhR-6oqboq-8eH4Dh-7TMSim-28fmkCy-58dpt9-KSqpz-YKp4ZN-2kJzDRo-YKp5CS-2ietJxQ-apQX8F-9RxY5J-ewsN9F-2iwH6oS-2jaJXPB-XNmWfa-XNmW74-YKp5Sj-5f8m2-2iZ2xSv-28LEbik-2nGA9hq-2noT9Sb-f74A1f-2ny4Hci\" title=\"Riffles\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/4104\/5179406252_96bb909237_z.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\" alt=\"Riffles\"\/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<div align=\"center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/my.kualo.com\/uk\/go\/00572\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.kualo.com\/rewards\/uk-unlimited2-468x60.gif\" width=\"468\" height=\"60\" border=\"0\"\nalt=\"Unlimited Web Hosting - Kualo\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The words rifle and ruffle sound similar, but are they related? Let&#8217;s find out. A rifle is a firearm fired from the shoulder with a long, rifled barrel, which increases range and improves accuracy. It is short for &#8220;rifled gun&#8221;, referring to the spiral grooves inside the barrel (rifling). It comes from Middle English riflen [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104,107,111,124,10,26,174,34,36,44,45,64,78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english","category-etymology","category-french","category-icelandic","category-language","category-middle-english","category-middle-low-german","category-old-french","category-old-norse","category-proto-germanic","category-proto-indo-european","category-spanish","category-words-and-phrases"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23391"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23394,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23391\/revisions\/23394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}