rabouin

since 1800 (1901 for « gypsy »), from raboin (1741, « devil »), borrowed in 1640 from the Fourbesque rabuino (« devil »), which, like the Italian rabacchio (« goblin ») and the French rabas (from the 16th to the 18th century), would be derived from the radical rab(b)- (from rabâcher), the Italian rabuino would have first been one of the nicknames of the devil and would be derived from the old proverb raboi (« behind »), which itself would be derived from rapum (« turnip »). The word must have also meant « tail », the root of the turnip having been compared to a tail (see the Spanish rabo « tail ») and the devil would have received this nickname in Italian because the tail is one of his most characteristic traits, it could also have meant « big behind ».