raca

See also: Appendix:Variations of "raca"

Latin

Alternative forms

• racha, racca

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ῥακά (rhaká), from Aramaic רֵיקָא (rēqā, “worthless person”) or Classical Syriac ܪܝܩܐ (rēqā, “vanity”).

Interjection

raca (Ecclesiastical Latin)

1. idiot!, putz!
   • 4th C. CE, Saint Jerome, Vulgate, Matthew 5:22:

     Quī autem dīxerit frātrī suō, raca!, reus erit conciliō.

     And whoever says to his brother, idiot!, shall be liable to answer to the council.

   • 397 CE, Tyrannius Rufinus (translator), Instituta Monachorum, question 145, original author: Basil of Caesarea, in Patrologia Latina (volume 103), Jacques-Paul Migne (editor), Paris 1851, column 538:

     Quid est raca? Respōnsum: Prōvinciālis, id est, gentīlis illīus sermō est velut convīciī leviōris, quod domesticīs et hīs quōrum fīdūciam quis gerit, dīcī solet.

     What is raca? The answer: A provincial, that is, a pagan word used for example as a mild insult, which is usually said to servants and to those who rely on you.

Noun

raca n (indeclinable) (Ecclesiastical Latin, hapax)

1. (metonymically) the act of calling someone ‘raca’.
   • c. 393 CE, Saint Jerome, Against Jovinianus 2.31, in Patrologia Latina (volume 23), Jacques-Paul Migne (editor), Paris 1883, column 342:

     Dē eō autem quod nīteris approbāre, convīcium et homicīdium, raca et adulterium, et ōtiōsum sermōnem, et impietātem ūnō suppliciō repēnsārī, […]

     As to the fact that you argue that an insult and a murder, calling somebody a putz and adultery, idle talk and impiety should be rewarded with the same punishment, […]

References

• “racha” in volume 11, part 2, column 18, line 63 in the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (TLL Open Access), Berlin (formerly Leipzig): De Gruyter (formerly Teubner), 1900–present

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *rakō, *rekô (“rake”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈrɑ.kɑ/

Noun

raca m

1. rake

   Synonym: racu

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian razzo, from Latin radius.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈra.t͡sa/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -at͡sa
• Syllabification: ra‧ca

Noun

raca f

1. flare
2. firework

   Synonyms: fajerwerk, sztuczne ognie

Declension

Declension of raca

	singular	plural
nominative	raca	race
genitive	racy	rac
dative	racy	racom
accusative	racę	race
instrumental	racą	racami
locative	racy	racach
vocative	raco	race

Further reading

• raca in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• raca in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Slovene

Etymology

Possibly from Albanian rosë.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ràːt͡sa/

Noun

ráca f

1. duck (aquatic bird of the family Anatidae)

Inflection

The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.

Feminine, a-stem
nom. sing.	ráca
gen. sing.	ráce
	singular	dual	plural
nominative (imenovȃlnik)	ráca	ráci	ráce
genitive (rodȋlnik)	ráce	rác	rác
dative (dajȃlnik)	ráci	rácama	rácam
accusative (tožȋlnik)	ráco	ráci	ráce
locative (mẹ̑stnik)	ráci	rácah	rácah
instrumental (orọ̑dnik)	ráco	rácama	rácami

Further reading

• “raca”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran

Ternate

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈɾa.t͡ʃa]

Verb

raca

1. (stative) to be torn

Conjugation

Conjugation of raca
	Singular	Plural
	Inclusive	Exclusive
1st	toraca	foraca	miraca
2nd	noraca	niraca
3rd	Masculine	oraca	iraca, yoraca†
Feminine	moraca
Neuter	iraca
† - archaic

References

• Rika Hayami-Allen (2001) A descriptive study of the language of Ternate, the northern Moluccas, Indonesia, University of Pittsburgh