Etymology

Uncertain. Possibly from Latin raptiō, raptiōnem ("a carrying off, abduction, ravishing"; perhaps interpreted as taking or collecting crops in the harvest (cf. also măsălar, a folk name for August)), from raptus, or alternatively from a Vulgar Latin root *rapatiōnem, from rapa, plural of rapum ‎(“turnip”), deriving the sense of "a harvest of turnips", but this seems an unlikely and forced explanation.