The German name Rattenkönig (formerly mostly Ratzenkönig or Razenkönig) has been - and still is occasionally used today - in various meanings, namely:

1. for a particularly large rat that dominates other rats and is fed by them,
2. (metaphorically) for a person who lives a lavish life at the expense of others,
3. for a number of rats whose tails are so knotted that the animals can no longer separate from each other,
4. (metaphorically) for a very complicated matter.

We also found other meanings for 'Rattenkönig' in literature. According to Dornseiff (1943), it is a synonym for 'disorder'; according to Kaltschmidt (1843) and Schulz (1845), it refers to a rat that eats or kills other rats (in a similar sense, the term 'Rattenwolf' is used); during the Reformation, it was used as an insult along with 'Wolf, Sau, Bock, Hunt, Katz und Schneck', one of the 'wild, filthy animals'; in Wilhelm Raabe's work, it refers to a treacherous person; and finally, according to Ken (1838), it means a rat's nest.