rater

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ʁa.te/^[1]

Forms

rater^[1]

Etymology

It is from French rat + -er, made after the older phrase “prendre un rat”, said of a firearm that failed to go off.^[2][3][4] That phrase is found as “prendre rat” in 1651 and as “prendre un rat” in 1668, when it also meant “to fail”; the verb replaced it, and it went out of use in the 19th century.^[3] Rey reports Guiraud's explanation of the phrase: Old French raster “to scrape, gnaw” (see ratisser), the wheel of the musket and later the hammer of the gun scraping without striking a spark.^[3] A verb rateler “to hunt rats” (1611), later found in a shorter form (1743–1752), has died out.^[3]

Littré rejected the story that students made the verb from the canon-law formula “matrimonium ratum, sed non confirmatum”, since the word is too recent for so old a source.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lesage uses it in Gil Blas (1715) for failing in an undertaking.^[2] The Académie recorded it in 1718, both for a gun that does not fire and for not carrying a task through.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

From the start it meant both missing the game one aimed at because the shot did not go off, and failing at something;^[2][3] Marivaux has the intransitive “to fail” in 1722.^[2][3] Rater son coup is recorded in 1833, and in 1873 Flaubert uses it for failing to meet someone.^[2] In the negative it became familiar: ne pas rater quelqu'un “to get even with someone” (1904) and ne pas en rater une “never to miss a chance to put one's foot in it” (1929).^[2][3]

The past participle raté was used as a noun for a misfire of a gun (1836), then for a person who has failed in life (1867) and for the misfiring of an engine (1890).^[3][2] Rey calls rater the familiar equivalent of manquer.^[3]

Timeline

• 1651 – Prendre rat is said of a gun that fails to fire.^[3]
• 1715 – Rater “to fail in”, in Lesage's Gil Blas.^[2]
• 1718 – The Académie records the verb, of a gun that does not fire.^[2][6]
• 1722 – Intransitive “to fail”, in Marivaux.^[2]
• 1833 – Rater son coup.^[2]
• 1867 – Un raté, a failure of a man, in the Goncourts.^[2]
• 1873 – “To miss (someone)”, in Flaubert's letters.^[2]
• 1890 – Ratés of an engine.^[2]
• 1929 – Ne pas en rater une.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) Of a gun or charge, to fail to go off, to misfire.^[7][1]
2. (intransitive, familiar) To fail, to go wrong: l'affaire a raté.^[7][1]
3. (transitive) To miss what one was aiming at: rater un lièvre.^[7]
4. (transitive) To miss (a train, an event, a person): rater son train.^[7][1]
5. (transitive, familiar) To botch, bungle: rater sa vie.^[1][8]
6. (familiar) Ne pas en rater une: never to miss a chance to blunder.^[3][1]

Word family

• raté
• ratage

Related words

• rat
• ratisser

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse