ragga

See also: Ragga and raggá

English

Etymology

Clipping of raggamuffin, variant of ragamuffin (“troublemaker”), influenced by reggae.

Noun

ragga (uncountable)

1. (music) A subgenre of reggae and dancehall influenced by hip hop and digital production techniques such as sampling. [from 1980s]
   • 1993 August, David Eimer, “Reel to Reel”, in The Wire, number 114, →ISSN, page 52:

     Tosh's brand of roots reggae, with its emphasis on uplifting anthems and melodic riffs, now sounds as dated as The Wailers' earliest incarnation as a straight-up ska band, especially when listened to alongside the shuddering bass of most contemporary ragga tracks.

   • 2001 September 15, Christopher John Farley, “Music Goes Global”, in Time‎^[1], →ISSN:

     The song samples Ricky Martin's hit Shake Your Bom-Bom but adds ragga's roughness. When Bam Bam comes on, the crowd goes wild.

   • 2016, Linda Dailey Paulson, “Ragga”, in edited by Dave DiMartino, Music in the 20th Century, volume 1, Routledge, →ISBN, page 514:

     A sub-genre of reggae, ragga is a modern Jamaican sound with ties to the oldest traditional music of that island-nation. The name is taken from the word “raggamuffin”, a term used for disenfranchised youth. One popular ragga singer called Half Pint said, “A lot of people interpret raggamuffin as if it [is]^[sic] a criminal morality.”

   • 2019, Wiley et al (lyrics and music), “Boasty”:

     Fling a ragga riddim like it's '03

Derived terms

• Raggastani

See also

• raga

Anagrams

• Gagra

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈraɡ.ɡa/
• Rhymes: -aɡɡa
• Hyphenation: ràg‧ga

Noun

ragga m (uncountable)

1. Clipping of raggamuffin (“ragga”).

Further reading

• ragga in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication

Swedish

Etymology

Definitions 1-3 originate from ragg (“fur, bristles”). Definitions 4-5 are associated with the raggare subculture, possibly from trucker slang (åkarslang) ragga (upp) ("to pick something or someone up").

Verb

ragga (present raggar, preterite raggade, supine raggat, imperative ragga)

1. (dialect, Småland: gå å ragga) to go around untidy, uncombed, hair hanging down
2. (reflexive, dialect, Hälsingland: ragga sej) to regret
3. (ragga till) to bristle
5. to search, look for, hit on, pick up (women, in cars)

   Han raggade på henne

   He was hitting on her

   De åkte runt och raggade

   They were driving around trying to pick up women

   att ragga upp någon

   to pick someone up

   Synonym: (hit on) stöta på

6. (figuratively) to search, look for, recruit (sponsors, supporters, new members)

   Vi försöker ragga sponsorer

   We're trying to pick up sponsors

   • 2009, Sydöstran (newspaper), December 2

     BTH raggar studenter i Lettland och Litauen

     Blekinge Institute of Technology recruits students in Latvia and Lithuania

Usage notes

Chiefly used purely to mean hit on in (sense 4), independent of raggare culture.

Conjugation

Conjugation of ragga (weak)

	active		passive
infinitive	ragga		raggas
supine	raggat		raggats
imperative	ragga		—
imper. plural1	raggen		—
	present	past	present	past
indicative	raggar	raggade	raggas	raggades
ind. plural1	ragga	raggade	raggas	raggades
subjunctive2	ragge	raggade	ragges	raggades
present participle		raggande
past participle		raggad

¹ Archaic. ² Dated. See the appendix on Swedish verbs.

Related terms

• ragg
• raggare

References

• ragga in Svensk ordbok (SO)