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ratel (RAYT-l, RAHT-l) - n., a nocturnal badger-like member of the weasel family (Mellivora capensis) of Africa and India.
Also (now better-) known as the honey badger. I met it long before the viral videos from a like in Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market: "One like a ratel tumbled hurry skurry," describing one of the goblins. From Afrikaans, where it normally literally means rattle (from Dutch), though why it'd be called that is obscure, which is why it's been suggested that it might be a variant or compound of raat, honeycomb, in reference to its fondness for honey, whence its other name.
---L.
Also (now better-) known as the honey badger. I met it long before the viral videos from a like in Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market: "One like a ratel tumbled hurry skurry," describing one of the goblins. From Afrikaans, where it normally literally means rattle (from Dutch), though why it'd be called that is obscure, which is why it's been suggested that it might be a variant or compound of raat, honeycomb, in reference to its fondness for honey, whence its other name.
---L.
