Editing Ratatoskr (section)

==Etymology==
The name ''Ratatoskr'' contains two elements: ''rata-'' and ''-toskr''. The element ''toskr'' is generally held to mean "tusk". [[Guðbrandur Vigfússon]] theorized that the ''rati-'' element means "the traveller". He says that the name of the legendary drill [[Rati (Norse mythology)|Rati]] may feature the same term. According to Vigfússon, ''Ratatoskr'' means "tusk the traveller" or "the climber tusk."<ref name="GUÐBRANDUR483">Guðbrandur (1874:483).</ref>

[[Sophus Bugge]] theorized that the name ''Ratatoskr'' is a [[loanword]] from [[Old English]] meaning "[[Rat]]-tooth." Bugge's basis hinges on the fact that the ''-toskr'' element of the compound does not appear anywhere else in Old Norse. Bugge proposed that the ''-toskr'' element is a reformation of the Old English word ''tūsc'' ([[Old Frisian]] ''tusk'') and, in turn, that the element ''Rata-'' represents Old English ''ræt'' ("rat").<ref name="STURTEVANT111">Sturtevant (1956:111).</ref>

According to Albert Sturtevant, "[as] far as the element ''Rata-'' is concerned, Bugge's hypothesis has no valid foundation in view of the fact that the [Old Norse] word ''Rata'' (gen. form of ''Rati''*) is used in ''[[Hávamál|Háv[amál]]]'' (106, 1) to signify the instrument which Odin employed for ''boring'' his way through the rocks in quest of the [[mead of poetry|poet's mead]] [...]" and that "''Rati*'' must then be considered a native [Old Norse] word meaning "The Borer, Gnawer" [...]".<ref name="STURTEVANT111"/>

Sturtevant says that Bugge's theory regarding the element ''-toskr'' may appear to be supported by the fact that the word does not appear elsewhere in Old Norse. However, Sturtevant says that the Old Norse proper name ''Tunne'' (derived from [[Proto-Norse]] ''*Tunþē'') refers to "a person who is characterized as having some peculiar sort of ''tooth''" and theorizes a [[Proto-Germanic]] form of ''-toskr''. Sturtevant concludes that "the fact that the [Old Norse] word occurs only in the name ''Rata-toskr'' is no valid evidence against this assumption, for there are many [Old Norse] ''[[hapax legomenon|hapax legomena]]'' of native origin, as is attested by the equivalents in the Mod[ern] Scandinavian dialects."<ref name="STURTEVANT111-112">Sturtevant (1956:111–112).</ref> Modern scholars have accepted this etymology, listing the name ''Ratatoskr'' as meaning "drill-tooth" (Jesse Byock, Andy Orchard, [[Rudolf Simek]]<ref name="DRILL-TOOTH"/>) or "bore-tooth" ([[John Lindow]]<ref name="LINDOW259"/>).