rato

Forms

rato m (plural ratos, feminine rata, feminine plural ratas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin rattus (“rat”), first recorded in the 14th century, spelt ⟨rratos⟩.^[2][3][4][1] The word displaced the inherited Old Galician-Portuguese mur, from Latin mūs (“mouse”).^[4][1]

The word is common to the western Romance languages and to Germanic, and its origin is uncertain.^[3][5][6] Houaiss, Cunha, Nascentes and the DCECH think it probably imitates the noise the animal makes when gnawing; the DHLF calls this the likeliest explanation, and rules out Latin rapidus (“swift”), once proposed.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The DHLF adds that the animal is generally thought to have come from Asia and reached Europe only in the early Middle Ages, and that it is impossible to say where the word arose; it also reports P. Guiraud's derivation from Vulgar Latin *raditō, from rādō (“to scrape”).^[6] Wiktionary calls it Germanic, and older scholarship derived it from Old High German rato: so A. Coelho, cited by Nascentes, and Silva Bastos.^[1][7][8] Nascentes concludes that the case is not clear.^[7]

The same word is Spanish rata, French rat and Italian ratto, as well as German Ratte and English rat.^[1][6][5] The DCECH notes that Galician rato is the mouse and rata the rat, as probably in early Portuguese too, and that Spanish ratón is a Castilian formation, whereas ratão is an augmentative.^[5] The computing sense is a semantic loan from English mouse.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the word to the 14th century, with the old spelling rratos.^[2][3] Cardoso's dictionary of 1569 renders Rato by Latin mus, and Barbosa (1611) adds the diminutive ratinho.^[9][10]

Semantic evolution

Morais (1813) describes a house animal that lives in holes and does damage, and also lives in the woods; among sailors it was a rough stone that chafes the anchor cables.^[11] From the animal came the senses “thief”, “cheat” and “frequenter of a place”, as in rato de biblioteca “bookworm” and rato de praia; in Brazil it also means a police agent, and among miners a piece of slow match laid by the priming.^[2] The adjective “mouse-grey” describes the coats of horses, and the DLP has “clever, crafty” as well.^[2][12]

Regional Brazilian senses include a good marksman in Piauí and, in Paraíba, chopped jerked beef fried with scrambled eggs.^[13] In Portugal the word names the computer mouse, which Brazil calls mouse.^[2][1]

Timeline

• 14th century – first record, spelt rratos.^[2][3]
• 1569 – Cardoso renders Rato by Latin mus.^[9]
• 16th century – first record of the diminutive ratinho.^[3]
• 1611 – Barbosa lists ratinho.^[10]
• 18th century – first record of ratoeira “mousetrap”.^[3]
• 1813 – Morais records the nautical sense, a stone that chafes cables, and the augmentative ratão.^[11][3]
• 1836 – first record of ratazana “large rat”, in Constâncio's dictionary.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A rat or mouse: any rodent of the family Muridae, especially of the genus Rattus.^[2][1]
2. Any of various other rodents that look like these.^[2]
3. A thief who steals in public places, hotels or houses.^[2][12][1]
4. A frequent visitor to a place: rato de biblioteca, rato de igreja.^[2][12]
5. (Brazil) A cheat, swindler.^[2]
6. (Brazil, informal) A police agent.^[2]
7. (Portugal, computing) A computer mouse.^[2][12][1]
8. (ichthyology) A fish related to the rays (raia), with a long tail and a venomous spine.^[12][14]
9. (nautical, obsolete) A sharp-edged stone that cuts the cables of anchored ships.^[2][12]

Adjective

1. Grey like a mouse's fur: um cavalo rato.^[2][12]
2. Odd, comic; ratão.^[2]
3. (informal) Clever, crafty.^[12]

Word family

• ratazana
• ratão
• ratinho
• ratoeira
• rataria
• rateiro
• ratice
• raticida
• ratinhar

Related words

• Galician rato
• Spanish rata
• French rat

Usage notes

The proverb quando o gato sai, os ratos fazem a festa “when the cat is away the mice will play” and the phrase jogo de gato e rato “cat-and-mouse game” are common.^[1]

The adjective “confirmed, ratified”, recorded from the 13th century (rrato in the 14th), is Latin ratus, the participle of reor (“to reckon”); it is now old-fashioned.^{[2][3][1][14]} A noun rato “short while” appears in the Cantigas de Santa Maria in a pouco rato “after a short time”.^[15] It is probably from Latin raptus (“a snatching”), and Corominas considers the Portuguese a recent Castilianism; the DLP takes it from Spanish rato.^[15][16][12] Wiktionary records it in Trás-os-Montes, and a survey of 1965 has por um rato “for a short while” in Portugal.^[1][17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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 q r Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. rato
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. rato
4. ^ a b c Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. rato
5. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 792
6. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. rat
7. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 435
8. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. rato
9. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. rato
10. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. rato
11. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 555
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. rato
13. ^ Navarro, Fred (2004), Dicionário do Nordeste, São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, p. s.v. rato
14. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. rato
15. ^ a b Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. rato
16. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 795
17. ^ Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. rato