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BGonline.org Forums
OLM Fr 01/13/12
Posted By: Daniel Murphy In Response To: OLM Fr 01/13/12 (Ian Shaw)
Date: Sunday, 15 January 2012, at 2:18 a.m.
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=root
root (v2.) "cheer, support," 1889, Amer.Eng., originally in a baseball context, probably from root (v.1) via intermediate sense of "study, work hard" (1856).root (v1.) "dig with the snout," 1530s, from M.E. wroten "dig with the snout," from O.E. wrotan, from P.Gmc. *wrotanan (cf. O.N. rota, Swed. rota "to dig out, root," M.L.G. wroten, M.Du. wroeten, O.H.G. ruozian "to plow up"), cognate with L. rodere "to gnaw" (see rodent). Associated with the verb sense of root (n.). Extended sense of "poke about, pry" first recorded 1831. Phrase root hog or die "work or fail" first attested 1834, Amer.Eng. (in works of Davey Crockett, who noted it as an "old saying"). Reduplicated form rootin' tootin' "noisy, rambunctious" is recorded from 1875.The Online Etymological Dictionary was my first stop -- it often is -- but the suggested path from "dig with the snout" through "study, work hard" to "cheer, support" seems implausible to me. However, the reference to "rootin' tootin'" (noisy, rambunctious) seems 19th-century timely and related in meaning ("enthusiastic, cheerful, lively"), in light of which the path suggested below seems plausible:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/root
root3 [root or, sometimes, root], verb (used without object) 1. to encourage a team or contestant by cheering or applauding enthusiastically. 2. to lend moral support: The whole group will be rooting for him. Origin: 1885–90, Americanism ; perhaps variant of rout4http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/rout
rout4 [rout, root] Chiefly British Dialect, verb (used without object), verb (used with object) 1. to bellow; roar. noun 2. a bellow. Origin: 1250–1300; Middle English rowten < Old Norse rauta to bellow; akin to Latin rudere
Root hog or die!
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