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rapture [rapture 词源字典]: rapture: [17] Rapture is one of a large family of English words that go back ultimately to Latin rapere ‘seize by force’. Its past participle was raptus (source of English rapt [14]), which formed the basis of the medieval Latin noun raptūra ‘seizure’, hence ‘ecstasy’ – whence English rapture. From the same source come rapacious [17], rape ‘violate sexually’, rapid, rapine [15], ravage, ravenous, ravine, ravish, surreptitious, and usurp.
=> rapacious, rape, rapid, ravage, ravenous, ravine, ravish, surreptitious, usurp[rapture etymology, rapture origin, 英语词源]
rare: rare: Rare ‘uncommon’ [15] and rare ‘underdone’ [17] are not the same word. The former was borrowed from Latin rārus, which originally signified ‘having a loose texture, widely separated’ – hence ‘scarce’. It is not known what its ultimate source is. The latter is an alteration of the now obsolete rear ‘underdone’ (originally used mainly of eggs: ‘They had at their dinner rear eggs’, Book of the knight of the tower 1450), which goes back to Old English hrēr – again of unknown origin.
rascal: rascal: [14] Rascal has been traced back ultimately to Latin rādere ‘scratch’. Its past participial stem rās- (source of English erase and razor) formed the basis of a Vulgar Latin verb *rāsicāre. From this was derived the noun *rāsica ‘scurf, scab, dregs, filth’, which passed into Old Northern French as *rasque (its central Old French counterpart, rasche, may be the source of English rash).

And it could well be that this *rasque lies behind Old French rascaille ‘mob, rabble’, which gave English rascal (the English word originally meant ‘rabble’ too, but the application to an individual person emerged in the 15th and 16th centuries). Rapscallion [17] is an alteration of a now defunct rascallion, which may have derived from rascal.
=> erase, rapscallion, rash, razor
rash: rash: English has two words rash. The older, ‘impetuous’ [14], probably comes from an unrecorded Old English *ræsc, which together with its relatives German rasch ‘quick’ and Swedish rask ‘active, vigorous’ goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *raskuz. This was probably derived from the same base as produced English rather, which originally meant ‘more quickly’. Rash ‘skin condition’ [18] may have been borrowed from the now obsolete French rache, a descendant of Old French rasche, whose Old Northern French counterpart *rasque is the possible source of English rascal.
=> rather; rascal
raspberry: raspberry: [17] The origins of the word raspberry are a mystery. At first, the fruit was known simply as raspes or raspis (recorded in an Anglo-Latin text as early as the 13th century), and the -berry was not tacked on until the early 17th century – but no one knows where raspes came from. Its use for a ‘rude noise made by blowing’, first recorded in the 1890s, comes from rhyming slang raspberry tart ‘fart’.
rat: rat: [OE] Rat is a general western European term, with relatives in French rat, Italian ratto, Spanish rata, German ratte, Dutch rat, Swedish råatta, and Danish rotte. These all come from Vulgar Latin *rattus, whose origin is unknown.
ratafia: ratafia: see toffee
ratchet: ratchet: [17] Ratchet was originally acquired, in the form rochet, from French rochet. This was a diminutive form descended ultimately from Frankish *rokko ‘spool’, which is related to English rocket. The notion of having teeth, which is central to the idea of a ratchet, therefore appears to be historically secondary; it presumably arose from the addition of ‘teeth’ to a rotating ‘spool’ or ‘spindle’ in a machine. The change from rochet to ratchet, which began in the 18th century, may have been influenced by German ratsch ‘ratchet’.
=> rocket
rate: rate: English has two words rate. The commoner, ‘relative quantity’ [15], comes via Old French rate from medieval Latin rata ‘calculated, fixed’, as used in the expression pro rata parte ‘according to a fixed part, proportionally’. This was the feminine form of ratus, the past participle of rērī ‘think, calculate’, from which English also gets ratio, ration, reason, etc.

The other rate, ‘scold’ [14], is now seldom encountered except in its derivative berate [16]. It is not certain where it comes from, although a possible source is Old French reter ‘accuse, blame’, which comes from Latin reputāre (ancestor of English reputation).
=> ratio, ration, reason; berate
rather: rather: [OE] Rather originated as the comparative form of the now obsolete adjective rathe ‘quick’, and so to begin with meant ‘more quickly’, hence ‘earlier, sooner’. Its most frequent modern meaning, ‘more willingly’, emerged as recently as the 16th century. Rathe itself went back to a prehistoric Germanic *khrathaz, which may have been derived from the same base as produced English rash ‘impetuous’.
=> rash
ration: ration: [18] Ration, like reason, comes from Latin ratiō, a derivative of the verb rērī ‘think, calculate’. This meant, among other things, ‘calculation, computation’, in which sense it has yielded English ratio [17]. In the Middle Ages it was used for an ‘amount of provisions calculated for a soldier’, and that meaning has channelled via Spanish ración and French ration into English as ration.

The ‘thinking’ sense of ratiō has reached English as reason, but its derivative rational [14] is less heavily disguised. Other English descendants of Latin rērī include rate and ratify [14], and the -red of hundred comes from a prehistoric Germanic *rath ‘number’, which came ultimately from Latin ratiō.
=> hundred, rate, ratio, reason
rattle: rattle: [14] Rattle probably existed in Old English, but in the absence of any direct evidence, it is usually suggested that the word was borrowed from Middle Low German rattelen, a relative of German rasseln ‘rattle’. Whatever its ultimate source, it no doubt originally imitated the sound of rattling.
raven: raven: English has two separate words raven. The bird-name [OE] is a general Germanic term, related to German rabe, Dutch raaf, and Danish ravn. It goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *khrabnaz or *khraben, which originated in an imitation of the raven’s harsh croaking. The verb raven ‘prey, plunder’ [15], nowadays encountered virtually only in its present participle ravening and the derived ravenous, goes back ultimately to Latin rapere ‘seize by force’.
=> rape, rapture, ravenous
ravenous: ravenous: [15] Ravenous was borrowed from Old French ravineux, a derivative of the verb raviner ‘seize by force’ (source of English raven, which nowadays appears mainly in its present participial form ravening). This came from Latin rapere ‘seize by force’, ancestor also of English rape. The central modern meaning of ravenous, ‘very hungry’, developed from the notion of predatory animals that ‘seize’ and eat their prey. Other English descendants of Latin rapere include rapacious, rapid, rapture, ravage, ravine, ravish [13], surreptitious, and usurp.
=> rape, rapture, raven
ravine: ravine: [15] Ravine and the now seldom encountered rapine ‘plunder’ [15] are essentially the same word. Both come ultimately from Latin rapīna ‘plunder’, a derivative of rapere ‘seize by force’ (from which English gets rape, rapid, rapture, ravenous, etc). This passed directly into English via Old French as rapine, but a variant Old French form also developed, ravine, whose meaning appears to have been influenced by Latin rapidus ‘rapid’.

It denoted ‘violent rush, impetus’ – which is how it was used in its brief and very spasmodic career in Middle English. It did not become firmly established as an English word until the 19th century, when it was reborrowed from French in the sense ‘gorge’ – originally as carved out by a ‘violent rush’ or torrent of water.
=> rape, rapine, rapture
ravioli: ravioli: see rape
ravish: ravish: see ravenous
raw: raw: [OE] Raw has relatives in German (roh), Dutch (rauw), Swedish (rå), and Danish (ra). These all go back to a prehistoric Germanic ancestor *khrawaz, whose ultimate source was Indo-European *krowos (other descendants of the same base include Greek kréas ‘flesh’, from which English gets creosote and pancreas, and Latin crūdus ‘raw’, source of English crude and cruel).
=> creosote, crude, cruel, pancreas
ray: ray: Ray the ‘beam of light or energy’ [14] and ray the fish-name [14] are two different words. The former comes from rai, the Old French descendant of Latin radius ‘spoke of a wheel, ray’ (source also of English radiant, radio, radius, etc). The textile term rayon was coined from it in the early 1920s. Ray the fish-name comes via Old French raie from Latin raia, a word of unknown origin.
=> radio, radius
razor: razor: [13] A razor is etymologically a ‘scraper’. The word was borrowed from Old French rasor, a derivative of raser ‘scrape, shave’ (from which English gets raze [16]). This in turn went back via Vulgar Latin *rasāre to Latin rādere ‘scrape’, source also of English abrade [17], erase, and possibly rascal.
=> abrade, erase, rascal