The etymological origin of the term delatar that concerns us now we have to explain that it is found in Latin. Exactly it is the result of the sum of the following components:
-The prefix “de-”, which is synonymous with “from top to bottom”.
-The adjective “latus”, which can be translated as “carried”.
-The suffix “-ar”, which is used to determine verbs.
According to the first meaning included by the Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ) in its dictionary, snitching refers to voluntarily reporting a crime to an authority , pointing out the person responsible for punishment.
For example: “Don't worry, I'm not going to rat you out” , “The man was planning to rat out his partner, but he was murdered before he could get to the police station” , “If you ever have the stupid idea of ratting me out, remember I have many friends and you have family…”
Suppose a young man observes how his neighbor breaks the door of a business premises and enters to steal various items. Then, he flees and takes refuge in his house. Faced with this situation, the witness decides to go to the police station to denounce the criminal : that is, he gives a statement to a police officer detailing everything he saw.
In the same way, we come across the fact that reporting is not always something that a person does face to face and showing their identity. On numerous occasions, citizens who have information and data to expose someone for a crime committed choose to do so in a hidden manner. By this we mean that they make a phone call to the police from a phone that cannot be identified and distorting their voice, as we have seen in numerous films.
What's more, on other occasions what they do is send the authorities the graphic or written evidence they have about who has committed the crime without leaving a record of their identity.
If they hide their name and surname it may be because they fear reprisals, because they do not want their identity to be publicly known, because they do not want to be involved in the crime in question, because they belong to the alleged criminal's environment...
Reporting can also consist of reporting a fault to an authority or a hierarchical superior . A student can tell on a classmate to the teacher, telling her that he is copying his answers on an exam. An employee who tells his boss that another worker often falls asleep during work hours is also giving away someone else.
The idea of snitching can even refer to making public something that is reprehensible or that, for some reason, another person does not want to be known. A journalist, to cite one case, can expose on his TV program a famous actor whom he saw in a restaurant having dinner with his lover.
Synonyms for snitching include accusing, blaming, denouncing, snitching, blowing or betraying. However, among its antonyms we find hide, cover, shut up, cover, cover up or conceal, for example.