Etymologically
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rat

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Pronunciation

Forms

rat m (plural rats, feminine rate)[1] The feminine rate is recorded from the end of the 12th century.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French rat, of obscure origin.[4][3][5] The animal is generally thought to have come from Asia and to have reached Europe only in the first centuries of the Middle Ages.[4][3] The word is shared by the Germanic languages (German Ratte, English rat) and the Romance languages (Italian ratto, Spanish rato, now “mouse”, Old Occitan rat), and it is impossible to say where it arose.[4][3] It cannot come, as was once proposed, from Latin rapidus (“swift”).[4][3]

The most likely explanation, for Bloch and Wartburg, the FEW and the DHLF, is an expressive element ⟨ratt-⟩ imitating the sound of the animal gnawing.[3][4][2] Pierre Guiraud preferred a Romance derivative of Latin rādō (“to scrape”) in the sense “to gnaw”, through a form meaning “gnawing”; the Grand Robert finds the importance of the word an argument for a Romance origin.[4][6] Wiktionary and Littré give a Germanic source, Old High German rato or a Frankish word.[1][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1170, in the Old French Livre des Rois, as the usual name of a rodent.[8][4] Chrétien de Troyes uses it about 1175.[2]

Semantic evolution

Names of species followed: rat d'eau (Nicot, 1606), rat des champs (La Fontaine, 1668), rat musqué (1725).[8] Phrases drew on the animal: être comme rats en paille, living in plenty (Calvin, 1541), être pris comme un rat (1725) and être fait comme un rat (1918), to be trapped.[8] Prendre un rat, of a gun, to misfire (1651), lies behind the verb rater (1718).[8][3]

The word was applied to people: excise clerks were called rats de cave (1649), the young pupils of the Opéra's dancing class rats (1725), a churchy person a rat d'église (1773), a miser a rat (Balzac, 1846).[8] In thieves' slang it meant a thief (1821), as in rat d'hôtel.[8] Mon rat is an affectionate name for a young man or girl from 1808.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 1170 – In the Livre des Rois.[8]
  • 1541 – Être comme rats en paille in Calvin.[8]
  • 1606 – Nicot records rat d'eau.[8]
  • 1649 – Rat de cave, a nickname for excise clerks.[8]
  • 1651 – Prendre un rat, of a misfiring gun.[8][9]
  • 1668 – Rat des champs in La Fontaine.[8]
  • 1725 – A young pupil of the Opéra ballet.[8]
  • 1808 – Mon rat as an endearment.[8]
  • 1846 – Balzac uses it for a miser.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A rat, a long-tailed rodent: rat noir, rat d'égout.[10][1]
  2. (familiar) A term of endearment: mon rat.[1][8]
  3. (familiar) A miser; also as an adjective, stingy.[1][8]
  4. Petit rat de l'Opéra: a young pupil of the Paris Opéra's ballet school.[8][10]
  5. Rat de bibliothèque: a bookworm, rat d'hôtel: a hotel thief.[1][8]
  6. Être fait comme un rat: to be trapped.[1][8]

Word family

  • mort-aux-rats
  • ratier
  • raton
  • dératisation
  • ratichon
  • rater
  • rate
  • English rat

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10, 120a
  6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u 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
  9. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  10. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert