Definitions
Definitions
1 rati
a, m., qs. vrati, but the v is dropped even in old Runic inscriptions:—prop. the traveller; it remains in the name of the squirrel, Rata-töskr = Tusk the traveller, the climber Tusk, see the tale in Edda; as also in the name of the gimlet by which Odin ‘made his way’ into the mountain where the mead of wisdom was hidden, Edda, Hm. 106.
2 rati
II. a demoniac, raver, madman, who wanders about as if hunted: in the Runic phrase, varþi at rata haugs upp briotr, may the breaker of his cairn become a rati, Rafn 181; at rita (= rata) sá varþi es stain þannsi elti eþa ept annan dragi, 188; sa varþi at rita es ailti stein þannsi eþa heþan dragi, 194, cp. the Engl. ‘blest be the man that spares these stones, and curs’d be he that moves these bones,’ on Shakespeare’s tombstone; rati remains in the popular Icel. = a heedless, forgetful, senseless fellow, þú ert mesti rati! and ratalegr, adj. clownish, silly; rata-skapr, m. rashness, heedlessness.
Runic Inscription
Runic Inscription
rati
The runic text above represents the Old Norse word "rati" as it might appear in runic inscriptions from the Viking Age (c. 800-1100 CE).