Ruin is mostly a borrowing from French and ultimately Latin and seems to originally mean something about the downfall of angels and the the falling down of other things. Along the way, I discovered the gorgeous word rure, an obsolete Old English word completely different from ruin but meaning the same thing. It is, gods bless it, an ablaut variant of the equally obsolete word roese: To fall or fall down; to fall (in battle), perish; to descend, drop. Also: (of hair) to fall out

• 1.116 and so to the ruins of Dale –
• 1.123 until Dale was ruined,
• 3.040 and he grieved to remember the ruin of the town of Dale
• 5.055 Slays king, ruins town,
• 11.006 the grey ruins of ancient houses, towers, and walls.
• 13.046 They passed through the ruined chamber.
• 13.055 in front of the ruined town.
• 14.018 down the Running River from the ruin long ago.
• 14.023 in ruin.
• 14.025 and ruined houses.
• 14.033 Dragon-fire and ruin!
• 14.038 who had escaped uninjured from the ruin of the town;
• 14.042 and looked on the ruins of the town.
• 14.043 amid the ruined piles of the old town.
• 14.044 from the ruin of the town
• 15.048 and in recompense you have thus far brought ruin only,