Where does “rat” come from?
rat (Old Frisian) comes from Proto-West Germanic *ratt, from Proto-Germanic rattaz, from Proto-Indo-European Hreh₃d- — to scrape.
Ancestry of “rat”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Proto-West Germanic | *ratt | — |
| 2 | Proto-Germanic | rattaz | rat |
| 3 | Proto-Indo-European | Hreh₃d- | to scrape |