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RASCAL,
a knave, villain. (F.,—L.?) M.E. raskaille, used
collectively, 'the common herd,' Morte Arthur, ed. Brock, 2881. See
Prompt. Parv., and Way's note. 'Certain animals, not accounted as
beasts of chace, were so termed;... the hart, until he was six years old, was
accounted rascayle;' Way. He also cites: 'plebecula, lytell
folke or raskalle; plebs, folk or raskalle.' Cf. 'Rascall, refuse
beest;' Palsgrave. β. As the word was a term of the chase, and as it
has the F. suffix -aille, it must needs be of F. origin; no other origin is
conceivable, the word not being English. Nor can it, I think, be doubted
that the E. raskaille stands for an O.F. rascaille*, which is clearly the same
word as mod. F. racaille, 'the rascality or base and rascall sort, the scumme,
dregs, offals, outcasts, of any company,' Cot. γ. The lit. sense is
'scrapings;' for I take O.F. rascaille* to stand for rasclaille* (which would
have been unpronounceable), from O.F. rascler, mod. F. racler, 'to scrape, raspe;'
Cot. Or perhaps there was an O.F. rasquer, to scrape, whence may be
derived O.F. raqué, small or corse wine, squeezed from the dregs of the grapes,'
Cot. δ. Or, in any case, we find Prov., Span., and Port.,
rascar, to
scrape, O. Ital. rascare, 'to burnish, to rub, to furbish' (Florio); all formed
from a Low Lat. type rasicare*, a frequentative form from rasum, supine of
radere, to scrape; see Rase. ε. The above view is, practically, that
taken by Scheler. Perhaps it will also explain Port. rascão, a mean
page or servant, a dish of minced meat; i.e. scrapings. Moreover,
from Ital. raspare, to scrape, rasp, we have O. Ital. raspato, 'a kind of
raspise [raspish, harsh] wine' (Florio); which seems a similar formation to O.F.
raqué, coarse wine. ¶
The A.S. rascal, is unauthorised, and prob. a fiction. Der. rascal-ly,
rascal-i-ty. [†]
ADDENDA
Cf. Anglo-F. rascaylle,
a host, a rabble, Polit. Songs, ed. Wright, p. 293; raskayle, Langtoft's
Chron. i. 136; raskaylle, id. ii. 296. The O.F. rascaille
is also verified by the occurrence of the Walloon rascaille = mod. F. racaille
(Sigart). Note also M.E. rasskayle, Rich. the Redeles, ii.
129; rascall, Boke of St. Albans, fol. e. 1.
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