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RAIL (1),
a bar of timber, an iron bar for railways. (O. Low G.) M.E. rail;
dat. raile, Gower, C. A. iii. 75, 1. II. Not found in A.S.,
but regularly contracted from a Low G. form regel; for the loss of g
between two vowels, cf. hail (1), nail, rain.—Low G. regel,
a rail, a cross-bar; Brem. Wörterbuch; Swed. regel, a bar, bolt;
cf. O. Du. richel, rijchel, 'a barre, a let, or a stop, that
shutteth a door;' Hexham. + G. riegel, O.H.G. rigil, a rail, bar,
bolt, by which a door
is fastened. β. This G. sb. is from O.H.G. ríhan, to fasten, mod. G.
reihen, to put into a row, stitch, string together, connect; the primitive bar
of a door was prob. a mere latch. The O. Du. rijchel means 'a line
or stroke' as well as a bar (Hexham); and is therefore the dimin. of the sb.
which appears as G. reihe, a row, stroke. This G. reihe is connected
by Fick with Skt. lekha (for rekha), a line, stroke, mark, from likh (=
rikh),
to scratch, to write.—✔RIK,
to scratch; Fick, i. 742. Der. rail, verb, rail-ing, rail-road,
rail-way.
RAIL (2),
to brawl, to use reviling language. (F.,—L.) In Skelton,
Poems Against Garnesche; see Skelton, ed. Dyce, i. 130, ll. 119,
137. 'Rayler, a jestar, raillevr;' Palsgrave.—F.
railler, 'to jest, deride, mock;' Cot. Cf. Span. rallar,
to grate, scrape, molest, vex; Port. ralar, to scrape. The
change of sense from scraping to vexing is in accordance with the usual course
of metaphors. Cf. Lat. rallum, an instrument for scraping
earth from a plough, which is a contraction for an older form radulum*.
The F. railler answers to a low Lat. type radulare*, formed as a
dimin. from radere, to scrape. See Rase.
(See Littré and Scheler.) Der. raill-er-y = F. raillerie, 'jeasting,
merriment, a flowt, or scoff,' Cot. Also rally (2). [†] RAIL
(3), a genus of wading
birds. (F.,—Teut.) Given by Phillips, ed. 1710, as 'a
sort of bird.' Spelt rayle in Levins, and in the Catholicon
Anglicon (cited by Wheatley).—O.F. rasle, 'a rattling in the
throat; also, the fowle called a rayle;' Cot. Mod. F. râle.
Littré notes raale as the 14th cent. spelling; also that the Picard form is
reille, shewing that the E. word agrees rather with the Picard than the usual F.
form. β. No doubt the bird was named from its cry; cf. O.F.
raller,
'to rattle in the throat,' Cot.; mod. F. râler. Of Teut. origin; cf.
O. Du. ratelen, 'to rattle, or make a noise,' Hexham; see Rattle.
γ.
So also O. Du. rallen, rellen, 'to make a noise;' een rel, 'a noise, a cracking,
or a rustling,' Hexham; the verb is merely a contracted form of ratelen, as in
Dan. ralle, Norw. radla, to rattle. Cf. G. ralle, a rail, land-rail,
corn-crake; Swed. ralla, to chatter, rallfågel, a landrail. [†]
RAIL (4),
part of a woman's night-dress. (E.) Put for hrail.
Obsolete; see Halliwell. 'Rayle for a womans necke, crevechief,
en
quarttre doubles;' Palsgrave. M.E. reȝel, Owl and Nightingale, 562;
see hræȝel in Stratmann.—A.S. hrægl,
hregl, swaddling-clothes, Luke,
ii. 12. + O. Fries. hreil, reil, a garment. + O.H.G. hregil, a garment,
dress. Root unknown.
ADDENDA
RAIL (2), to use
reviling language. Littré
cites from Ducange O.F. rasgler, to rail, which he regards as derived
from Lat. ras-um, supine of radere; and he considers this as
confirming the supposed equation of F. railler to Lat. radulare*,
from the same source. Wedgwood connects F. railler with Du. rallen,
to prate, ratelen, to rattle; but it is shown, under Rail (3),
that the F. verb hence derived is râler, O.F. raller, and I
doubt if F. railler and râler can be thus
equated. See Scheler.
RAIL (3).
Spelt raale, Book of St. Albans, fol. f 7, back. This agrees
better with the F. form.
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