rat French · revision 17685

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1170, Livre des Rois}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ʁa/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''rat''' ''m'' (plural rats, feminine rate)^(Wiktionary)

+ The feminine ''rate'' is recorded from the end of the 12th century.^(GLLF 1989)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|rat]], of obscure origin.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|10, 120a) The animal is generally thought to have come from Asia and to have reached Europe only in the first centuries of the Middle Ages.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The word is shared by the Germanic languages ([[de|Ratte]], [[en|rat]]) and the Romance languages ([[it|ratto]], [[es|rato]], now “mouse”, [[pro|rat]]), and it is impossible to say where it arose.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) It cannot come, as was once proposed, from Latin [[m|la|rapidus|t=swift]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ 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.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) Pierre Guiraud preferred a Romance derivative of [[la|rādō|t=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.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) Wiktionary and Littré give a Germanic source, [[goh|rato]] or a Frankish word.^(Wiktionary)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found about 1170, in the Old French ''Livre des Rois'', as the usual name of a rodent.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Chrétien de Troyes uses it about 1175.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Names of species followed: ''rat d'eau'' (Nicot, 1606), ''rat des champs'' (La Fontaine, 1668), ''rat musqué'' (1725).^(TLFi) 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.^(TLFi) ''Prendre un rat'', of a gun, to misfire (1651), lies behind the verb [[rater]] (1718).^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ 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).^(TLFi) In thieves' slang it meant a thief (1821), as in ''rat d'hôtel''.^(TLFi) ''Mon rat'' is an affectionate name for a young man or girl from 1808.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1170 – In the ''Livre des Rois''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1541 – ''Être comme rats en paille'' in Calvin.^(TLFi)

+ * 1606 – Nicot records ''rat d'eau''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1649 – ''Rat de cave'', a nickname for excise clerks.^(TLFi)

+ * 1651 – ''Prendre un rat'', of a misfiring gun.^(TLFi)^(BHVF)

+ * 1668 – ''Rat des champs'' in La Fontaine.^(TLFi)

+ * 1725 – A young pupil of the Opéra ballet.^(TLFi)

+ * 1808 – ''Mon rat'' as an endearment.^(TLFi)

+ * 1846 – Balzac uses it for a miser.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|rat]], a long-tailed [[m|en|rodent]]: ''rat noir'', ''rat d'égout''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(familiar)'' A term of endearment: ''mon rat''.^(Wiktionary)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(familiar)'' A [[m|en|miser]]; also as an adjective, stingy.^(Wiktionary)^(TLFi)

+ # ''Petit rat de l'Opéra'': a young pupil of the Paris Opéra's ballet school.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''Rat de bibliothèque'': a [[m|en|bookworm]], ''rat d'hôtel'': a hotel thief.^(Wiktionary)^(TLFi)

+ # ''Être fait comme un rat'': to be trapped.^(Wiktionary)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[mort-aux-rats]]

+ * [[ratier]]

+ * [[raton]]

+ * [[dératisation]]

+ * [[ratichon]]

+ * [[rater]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[rate]]

+ * [[en|rat]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}