Rotten Row
Preserved but no longer current.
Said to be so called from O.Fr. route le rot or route du roi, because it formed part of the old royal route from the palace of the Plantagcnet kings at Westminster to the royal forests. Camden derives the word from rotteran, to muster, as the place where soldiers mustered. Another derivation is Norman Rat- ten Row (roundabout way), being the way corpses were carried to avoid the public thoroughfares. Others suggest A.S.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Rotten Row” mean?
Said to be so called from O.Fr. route le rot or route du roi, because it formed part of the old royal route from the palace of the Plantagcnet kings at Westminster to the royal forests. Camden derives the word from rotteran, to muster, as the place where soldiers mustered. Another derivation is Norman Rat- ten Row (roundabout way), being the way corpses were carried to avoid the public thoroughfares. Others suggest A.S.
Is “Rotten Row” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.