Off List Request

[DAK]

"Could you ask your language gurus about this word? It appears in very
old deeds as a landmark ("to the rattlebox on the Tennessee River"). A
man I talked with yesterday thought it might have been a box hung on a
rope that would carry someone across the river. a technique later used
by linemen.  I always envisioned a noise maker that might call the
ferryman. But, we could both be wrong."