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Monday, October 18, 2010

"Rattle" is Akin to Middle Dutch Ratel

"Rattle"
Merriam-Webster Dictionary

"...intransitive verb...to make a rapid succession of short sharp noises...

"Origin of RATTLE
"Middle English ratelen; akin to Middle Dutch ratel rattle
"First Known Use: 14th century...."

The Lemming finds this sort of thing fascinating.

Your experience may vary.
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2 comments:

  1. Left-footerOctober 18, 2010 at 2:07 PM

    I find this kind of thing fascinating. When I discovered that the Polish for 'camel' was 'wielbłąd' I whooped for joy, thinking 'wielki'='big' and 'błąd'='mistake'. So very apt for such an ugly beast.

    My etymological conjecture was, sadly, wrong. Hmph!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Brian H. GillOctober 18, 2010 at 6:21 PM

    Left-Footer,

    That would be an apt etymology. Too bad it didn't pan out.

    ReplyDelete

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