rassa

rass-a mlat. ‘Abmachung unter den Angehörigen eines Berufes, einer Familie’

c. 1300, as masculine razzo, the feminine razza is from the early 14th century. The etymology of this word is uncertain, with a large number of controversially discussed suggestions.

Among the most widely accepted suggestions is the one embraced by Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (1922), but was proposed earlier, among others by L. Spitzer (Z. rom. Philol. t. 53, pp. 300-301), which derives the word from Latin ratiō (the nominative, as opposed to ragione, from the accusative ratiōnem, which nonetheless was attested with a similar sense to razza in the late Middle Ages; ratio also came to mean "idea" or "conception of something" in Ecclesiastical Latin), and underwent a change of gender later from an original form *razzo, or else derived ultimately from generātiō through apheresis.

Another likely origin is from the Latin racēmus, meaning a "cluster or bunch of grapes, berries or similar fruits", from which the French "raisin" is derived.

Other suggestions include, Old High German reiza (“line”), Ancient Greek ῥίζα (rhíza, “root”), Arabic رَأْس (raʔs, “head”) (cf. Old French haraz (“culture of horses”)).