gratter

Forms

gratter^[1] Old French grater beside gratter.^[1][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French grater, borrowed from Frankish *krattōn (“to rub by scraping”), as the DHLF, the GLLF and the Petit Robert give it.^[3][4][5] The TLFi thinks a West Germanic *krattōn of the same meaning more likely than a Frankish one, and both belong to a Germanic root Proto-Germanic *gradi-.^[6] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Germanic *krattōną.^[1] The Germanic verb is reflected in Old High German krazōn (“to tear, scratch, engrave”), Middle High German kratzen and German kratzen (“to scratch”).^[6][3] It entered Vulgar Latin, where Medieval Latin grattō is found in 1023, and it has many Romance outcomes, among them Italian grattare and Old Occitan gratar.^[6][3][7][8]

Pierre Guiraud disputed this classical explanation and connected the verb instead with Latin crātiō (“to harrow”), from crātis (“hurdle, wickerwork”), through a Gallo-Romance derivative Vulgar Latin *cratitō.^[3][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Wace's Roman de Rou (1160–1174) has the verb, used without an object and reflexively, for rubbing the skin lightly with the nails; the transitive use follows in the Roman de Renart (1180–1190).^[6][3]

Semantic evolution

From “to rub, scrape lightly” the verb spread to an animal scratching the ground with its paw or hoof (1176–1181, Chrétien de Troyes), to tilling the soil shallowly (about 1223), to scraping a hard surface (about 1260) and to removing what lies on it by scraping (1283, Beaumanoir).^[6][3] Until the classical period gratter quelqu'un also meant “to flatter someone” (14th century).^[3][4] Gratter à la porte, to scratch at a door to be let in, is found in Molière (1663).^[6][3] Since 1723 the verb is used of what causes an itching or rough sensation.^[6][3]

The idea of scraping things up gave the figurative senses “to gather everything usable” (1847) and “to steal, plunder” (1841); the second has gone, the verb now meaning rather to make small profits.^[6][3] In cyclists' slang of 1894 it meant to overtake a rival, later to overtake in a car.^[3] It has meant “to play an instrument badly” since 1853 and “to work” since about 1890, probably from gratter la terre and gratter le papier.^[6][3] In Canadian French it is used for clearing away snow, and in Belgium for “to scratch, graze”.^[3]

Timeline

• 1160–1174 – Wace uses the verb, intransitively and reflexively, in the Roman de Rou.^[6]
• 1176–1181 – Chrétien de Troyes uses it of an animal scraping the ground.^[6]
• c. 1260 – Étienne Boileau's Livre des métiers uses it for scraping a hard surface.^[6][2]
• 1283 – Beaumanoir uses it for scraping off what is on a surface.^[6]
• 1663 – Gratter à la porte appears in Molière.^[6]
• 1690 – Furetière records gratter le parchemin “to earn a living as a copyist”.^[6]
• 1723 – First used of a drink or food that irritates the throat.^[6]
• 1853 – First record of the sense “to play an instrument badly”.^[6][3]
• 1894 – Cyclists' slang uses it for “to overtake”.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To rub with something hard so as to scrape the surface slightly, for example to clean it.^[5][10]
2. (transitive) To scratch with the nails or claws: se gratter la tête.^[5][10]
3. (transitive, familiar) To make itch, to irritate the skin; also used without an object, as in poil à gratter “itching powder”.^[5][10][1]
4. (transitive) To remove by scraping, to erase.^[5][10]
5. (familiar) To make small profits on the side.^[3][5]
6. (familiar) To overtake a competitor or another vehicle.^[3][5]
7. (familiar) To play the guitar or another string instrument, especially badly.^[1][6]
8. (intransitive) To scratch gently, as in gratter à la porte to ask to be let in.^[11][6]
9. (intransitive, slang) To work.^[6][3]

Word family

• grattage
• gratte-ciel
• gratte-cul
• gratte
• grattelle
• grattoir
• gratin
• égratigner
• regratter
• grattement
• gratteur
• gratte-papier

Related words

• German kratzen

Usage notes

The proverb trop parler nuit, trop gratter cuit warns against excess in speaking as in scratching.^[5] Gratte-ciel (late 19th century) translates the American English sky-scraper.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 16, 371a
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
11. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
12. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France