I am curious about the origin of the word ruthless.

Thank you

try this: http://www.quinion.com/words/qa/qa-rut1.htm

hint: often you can find word origins on the web by doing a "google" search [google.com] and simply entering "<word> origin" in the search field (without the "s).

http://members.aol.com/tsuwm/

It's from the word ruth (Middle English = compassion, pity, sorrow, grief, distress etc). Interesting that ruthless (and ruthful) have survived but not the original word.