rotgen.

Etymology: Apparently < Dutch rotge (although this is first attested later: see below), of uncertain origin; perhaps < a first element imitative of the call of the bird (see note) + a variant of -tje , diminutive suffix (compare the older form Middle Dutch, Dutch †-tgen , still current in the 17th cent.); or perhaps a specific use of rotje small child or animal (although this is first attested later (1738); < rot rat n.¹ + -je ); compare Dutch †rotje stormy petrel (1727). Compare also West Frisian rotsje little auk (19th cent. or earlier; also sé-rotsje (19th cent. or earlier; < sé sea n. + rotsje )). With later use compare rotche n., rotchie n.The name of the bird is given as Rotges by the Hamburg surgeon and naturalist F. Martens ( Spitzbergische oder groenlandische Reise Beschreibung (1675) 61–2) as the name current among the sailors on his voyage to Spitsbergen (among whom the master at least was Frisian), with the statement that it is derived from the bird's cry rottet tet . Compare Dutch (rare) †rottetetje (1750 in a Latin context), †rottetetje (1763 or earlier), †rotje (1766 or earlier), and †rottetje (1822), all denoting the little auk. N.E.D. (1909) suggested that the word (used by Martens only in form Rotges ) was perhaps a misunderstanding of Frisian rotgies , plural of rotgoes brent goose (see rood goose n.), but the birds are quite different and in one instance Martens mentions both in the same sentence, suggesting that he was aware of the difference:1694 tr. F. Martens Voy. Spitzbergen 76 in Narbrough's Acct. Several Late Voy. The Pigeons, Parrets, Red Geese [Ger. Rotgense] and Ducks, are the most fleshy, the old Lumbs have a very tough and dry Flesh, not to disparage the Rotges [Ger. Rotges], Kirmews and young Lumbs when boiled. However, the two birds are sometimes confused by the translator; this confusion is also found in other translations and occasionally in later texts based on these.