rattle

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English ratelen, also rattelen and ratlen,^[2] probably borrowed from Middle Dutch ratelen (“to rattle”), which has a Middle Low German counterpart ratelen.^{[3][4][5][6][2]} Barnhart and Etymonline consider the Middle Dutch source possible,^[7][8] while Etymonline and Ayto think the word may have existed in Old English without being recorded;^[8][9] Weekley pointed out that the surname of a John Rattilbagge is recorded in 1273, three centuries before the OED's first record of rattlebag.^[10] The OED treats it as a native Germanic word, apparently related to Dutch ratelen (“to chatter, to clatter”) (1569) and probably to Middle Low German rettelen (“to clatter”), though it calls the relationship unclear.^[11] German rasseln goes back to Middle High German razzeln (“to rage, make a noise”), from razzen (“to rage”), perhaps with its sense influenced by the Middle Low German verb.^[11][7][12] Old English had hratele, also hrate, the name of a plant whose seeds rattle in their capsules,^{[13][14][15][16]} and Merriam-Webster also compares Old Norse hrata (“to fall, stagger”).^[16] A link with hratian (“to rush, hasten”) has been suggested, but the OED thinks it very uncertain.^[11] The word is generally taken to be imitative in origin,^{[8][15][4][5][11]} and Weekley compared Ancient Greek κρόταλον (krótalon, “clapper”).^[10] The noun is formed from the verb about 1500, though in its plant sense it continues the Old English word.^{[8][7][3][11]}

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a thing: to give out a quick series of short, sharp sounds: about 1330, in Arthour and Merlin (Auchinleck manuscript),^[11] c. 1300 in Etymonline's dating and probably before 1300 in Barnhart's.^[8][7] Johnson (1755) defined it as making "a quick sharp noise with frequent repetitions and collisions of bodies not very sonorous".^[8]

Semantic evolution

The verb was used of talking rapidly and noisily, chattering, from about 1400 (Etymonline: late 14th century),^[11][8] of a rattling in the throat before 1398,^[11] and of going along loosely and noisily from the 1550s.^[8] The transitive use, making something rattle, is recorded from 1560 in the OED, though Etymonline dates it to the late 14th century.^[11][8] The American colloquial sense "to fluster, unsettle" appeared in 1869, from the idea of startling someone by noise.^[8][7] The noun, a rapid series of sharp sounds, is first found in William Dunbar's poems, before 1513;^[11][7] in 1519 it already named a baby's toy or other instrument that rattles.^[11][7][8] John Smith used it in 1612 for the horny rings of a rattlesnake's tail,^[11] the watchman's rattle with a tongue slipping over a ratchet wheel is recorded from 1668,^[11][8] and the rattling in the throat of a dying person from 1744 (Etymonline: 1752).^[11][8] Noisy, empty talk is a rattle in Johnson's dictionary.^[17][18] In Scots and Irish dialect the verb meant to chatter or to romp,^[19] and in south Lancashire to scold.^[19] A rattler was a long-winded talker about 1449, and a rattlesnake in American English from 1827.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1330 – to make a rapid series of sharp sounds.^[11]
• before 1398 – to rattle in the throat.^[11]
• c. 1400 – to chatter.^[11]
• before 1513 – noun, a rapid series of sharp sounds.^[11][7]
• 1519 – a baby's rattle, an instrument that rattles.^[11][7]
• 1560 – transitive, to make something rattle.^[11]
• 1612 – the rings at the end of a rattlesnake's tail.^[11]
• 1668 – a watchman's rattle, turned on a ratchet.^[11]
• 1744 – a rattling sound in the throat; the death rattle.^[11]
• 1869 – to fluster, unsettle (American).^[8][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make, or cause to make, a quick series of short, sharp sounds, as of hard objects striking each other: The shutters rattled all night in the gale.^[6][16][11]
2. To move or travel with such sounds: The old bus rattled down the lane.^[6][8]
3. To talk quickly and at length, often about trivial things; to chatter: usually rattle on or rattle away.^[6][16][11]
4. To say or recite quickly and without thought: usually rattle off.^[6]
5. (informal) To make someone nervous or upset; to fluster: The heckler rattled the speaker.^[6][7][8]
6. To make a rattling sound in the throat.^[16][11]

Noun

1. A quick series of short, sharp sounds: the rattle of hail on the roof.^[16][11]
2. A toy for a baby, or another device, that makes such a sound when shaken or whirled, such as a watchman's rattle.^[11][3][8]
3. The loose horny rings at the end of a rattlesnake's tail.^[11][3]
4. A rattling sound in the throat, especially a death rattle.^[11][8]
5. Noisy, rapid or empty talk.^[16][17]
6. Any of several plants whose seeds rattle in their capsules, such as yellow rattle.^[11][4]

Word family

• rattler
• rattlesnake
• rattletrap
• rattlebrained
• rattly
• rattlebox
• rattlebrain

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
10. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
13. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
14. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
15. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
16. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
17. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
18. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
19. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)