Etymology: Apparently < rash v.¹ Compare Old Icelandic ras rush. With sense 3 compare rash n.⁴ 2.With sense 2 compare Scots (rare) rashel, in the same sense (apparently < rash n.¹ + -el suffix¹):1928 A. D. Mackie In Two Tongues 38 And the sky wi' a' its starlicht In glory wid us droon, Gif like a rashel o' hailstanes It cam camsteerie doon.

Etymology: Immediate etymon and further etymology uncertain, as are the relationships among the various parallels in other Germanic and Romance languages. Compare Dutch (now historical) ras, †rass, (rare) †rasch smooth fabric woven from silk or (usually) worsted (1596 as ras, †rasch; 1599 or earlier with reference to a fabric woven from silk, as implied by the Latin gloss bombycina levis ‘light silken fabric’ in Kiliaan; especially in early use, it is often unclear whether a silken or worsted fabric is meant), German (originally regional: Low German; now archaic or historical) Rasch lightly woven fabric made from silk or (usually) worsted (1691 as simplex and in the compounds †Seidenrasch, lit. ‘silken rash’, and †Wüllenrasch, lit. ‘woollen (i.e. worsted) rash’; 1658 in a Low German source as ras), Swedish rask thin woollen cloth (usually woven from worsted) twilled or smoothed on one side, also a fabric of similar appearance made from silk (1613; 1599 as †rass; also (now rare) rasch (1636)), Danish rask thin coarse woollen cloth usually made from worsted (1574; also †rasch (second half of the 18th cent., after German)). Compare also Middle French, French (now hist.) ras, denoting various smooth twilled fabrics (1573 with reference to a fabric woven from some uncertain fibre; 1601 with reference to a kind of smooth satin (in †ras de Milan), 1649 with reference to a kind of fine serge (in †ras de Chalons)), Occitan ras (1397 in Old Occitan), Catalan ras smooth fabric woven from silk (1242; also †raç (second half of the 13th cent.)), Spanish raso chiefly denoting a smooth fabric woven from silk, but occasionally also other fabrics (a1491; compare †paño de seda raso (1406 or earlier)), Italian raso smooth fabric woven from silk (1278), post-classical Latin rasum (1454 in a Spanish source in uncertain sense), pannus rasus satin (1499 in a British source).The forms in French and Italian are usually considered specific uses as nouns of Middle French ras shaven, cut short (see rase n.) and its parallel Italian raso respectively (compare earlier raised adj.², razed adj. 2), the fabric being so called on account of its smoothness. However, it is likely that this is a folk etymology; the French word cannot be cognate with the words in the other Romance languages for reasons of historical phonology, as none of these words could be a regular descendant of classical Latin rāsus shaven (see rase n.). An alternative etymology (found especially in J. Grimm & W. Grimm Deutsches Wörterbuch at Rasch, and subsequently adopted by recent etymological dictionaries of German) is that the word is ultimately < the name of the town of Arras in Flanders (now in France), where this fabric was produced; compare earlier arras n. and see discussion at that entry. For instance, German Rasch is usually etymologized as shortened < Middle High German arrasch arras n. Support for this etymology is provided by early attestations in Catalan and Spanish, where the fabric is commonly called ‘cloth of Arras’: compare Catalan †drap de arraz (1187; also †drap d'Arraç ; frequent until the 15th cent.), Spanish †paño de ras (1268; similar collocations frequently until the early 17th cent.; compare †Raz , the former Spanish form of the name of the town of Arras (frequently from at least the late 13th cent.)). The relationship between arras n. and rash n.² and their parallels in foreign languages is not sufficiently clear, but even if rash n.² did not derive from the place name, it is likely that it was sometimes associated with it. It is possible that two etymologically distinct words may in the course of time have merged. Given that the nouns in English, the other Germanic languages, French, and Spanish appear no earlier than the late 15th cent., whereas Italian raso is considerably older, it is also conceivable that they may ultimately be loans < Italian, but the early records in the other languages do not make or suggest such a connection. The origin of the forms with final -sh in English, -sch in German, and -sk in the Scandinavian languages is not clear. It has been suggested (W. Horn in Archiv f. das Studium der neueren Sprachen 115 (1905) 327) that both the English and the German words were borrowed < the Dutch word, and that they show sound substitution by analogy with the correspondence between /s/ and /ʃ/ in other groups of cognate words (compare e.g. fish n.¹ and its cognates in other Germanic languages). However, this is not certain. Alternatively, it is possible that Italian rascia coarse woollen cloth, also a finer and softer fabric used for clothes (both a1498; also in 15th cent. (only denoting the coarse cloth) as †rasa , †rassa , †raza ), which is very similar both formally and semantically, may have influenced the forms of the word in the Germanic languages (the Italian word is of uncertain origin; it is usually regarded as < the name of Rascia in Serbia (see Rascian n. and adj.), but there appears to be no evidence to support this); perhaps compare also Catalan raxa (second quarter of the 16th cent.), Spanish raja (1563; also †raxa ), both originally denoting a smooth fabric woven from silk, in later use chiefly a coarse fabric woven from worsted, Portuguese raxa coarse cotton cloth (1589; of unknown origin). Compare also Middle High German (rare) arrasch , variant of arras arras n., although the change of s to sch is rare in Middle High German except in the environment of an -rs- cluster.

Etymology: Imitative. Compare later raish n. and perhaps also earlier rash n.¹, rash v.¹, rashet v. N.E.D. (1903) gives the pronunciation as (ræʃ) /ræʃ/.

Etymology: Probably < French †rache, †rasche eruption of the skin, (specifically) scurf, scabies (c1335 in Middle French as raiche ) < racher to scrape, scratch (although this is apparently first attested considerably later as an independent verb (19th cent.); however, compare several other apparently deverbal derivatives in Middle French, cited in Französisches etymol. Wörterbuch at *rasicare, which imply early currency of the underlying verb) < an unattested post-classical Latin form *rasicare < classical Latin rās- , past participial stem of rādere (see raze v.) + -icāre , verbal suffix. With the figurative use in sense 2 (which is apparently not paralleled in Romance languages) perhaps compare rash n.¹ 3.Compare French rash, (rare) rach localized or generalized eruption of the skin as in certain infectious diseases, allergic reactions, etc., typically appearing suddenly and consisting of reddish flat or raised lesions, sometimes containing fluid or pus (1799; reborrowed < English). Compare Old Occitan rasca (13th cent.), Italian †rasca, †raschia (first half of the 13th cent.; < Old Occitan), both in sense ‘eruption of the skin similar to scabies’.

Etymology: Probably < rash adj. Compare later rashing n.² and the Welsh nouns cited at that entry.

Etymology: Probably the reflex of an unattested Old English adjective cognate with Old Frisian rosk (adjective) quick, soon, unexpected, Middle Dutch rasch (adjective) quick, nimble, agile, vigorous, (adverb) quickly, hurriedly (Dutch rasch ), Middle Low German rasch (adjective) quick, nimble, agile, vigorous, (adverb) quickly, soon, immediately, Old High German reski (adjective, with i-mutation) impetuous, rasco (adverb) impetuously, ardently, vivaciously (Middle High German rasch , (with i-mutation) resch , (adjective) quick, nimble, agile, vigorous, fast, (adverb; also as rasche , (with i-mutation) resch ) quickly, soon, hastily, German rasch , räsch , resch (adjective) quick, nimble, agile, vigorous, hasty, impetuous, reckless, thoughtless (räsch , resch now only in sense ‘(of bread, crackling, etc.) crisp, crusty’), (adverb) quickly, soon, nimbly, vigorously, hastily, thoughtlessly), Old Icelandic rǫskr (adjective, with u-mutation) vigorous, brave, valiant (Icelandic röskur ), Old Swedish rasker (adjective) quick, nimble, vigorous, courageous, (adverb) quickly, nimbly, vigorously (Swedish rask (adjective) quick, nimble, vigorous, agile, healthy, youthful, (adverb) quickly, nimbly, vigorously, vivaciously, (now archaic) hastily, recklessly, thoughtlessly), Old Danish rask (adjective) quick, nimble, agile, vigorous, (adverb) quickly, hastily (Danish rask (adjective) quick, nimble, vivacious, vigorous, hasty, reckless, thoughtless, healthy, (adverb) quickly, nimbly, vigorously, hastily, recklessly, thoughtlessly), further etymology uncertain and disputed. In Middle English probably reinforced by the Germanic cognates; borrowing from early Scandinavian is unlikely on phonological grounds, as the expected form would be *rask . Compare earlier rash n.¹, rash v.¹With the use as adverb compare later rashly adv. Apparently attested earlier as a surname: John Rasshe (1316).

Etymology: Probably cognate with Dutch †rasschen , †rassen to hurry, rush, to hasten (first quarter of the 16th cent., used reflexively; obsolete after early 17th cent.), Old Icelandic raska to stir up, displace, dislodge, Swedish (originally regional) raska to make haste, to hurry, to act hastily or carelessly (17th cent.) < the same Germanic base as rash adj. Compare rash n.¹, rashet v. With later use perhaps compare also rush v.², and bash v.², clash v., crash v., dash v., pash v.¹, etc.

Etymology: Probably aphetic < arache v. Compare Anglo-Norman racher (13th cent.; aphetic < aracher to pluck out, pull out: see arache v.), and also earlier rache v. Compare also race v.¹, arace v.

Etymology: Probably alteration of either race v.² or raze v., perhaps after rash v.¹ or rash v.²