racket

The sporting sense comes from Middle English raket, possibly linked to Middle French words for 'palm of the hand,' which themselves may trace to Arabic rāḥat al-yad ('palm of the hand'). It might instead come from Dutch raketsen, from Middle French rachasser, 'to strike the ball back.' Separately, the noisy sense is attested since the 1500s and may be a metathesis of the dialectal word rattick, 'to shake, rattle.'

The sporting sense seems rooted in the idea of striking a ball, whether with a hand-shaped paddle or the act of hitting it back. The noise sense, if it comes from rattick, would have kept its core meaning of shaking or clattering sound intact.

The facts point to a possible link between the sporting racket and rachasser, a French verb meaning 'to strike back,' though the exact connection remains uncertain.