A neologism created by Boris Shapiro and Petri Tikka in PPQ (PPQ) from the early 2000s, based on S. and N. rath of the same meaning. I think it is better to use ratta with its attested meaning “track”, first published in 2021.
Quenya
ratta
noun. track
ratta
noun. street; course, river-bed
rattaraxa
noun. tram, (lit.) track-wagon
ranta
noun. course
mallë
street, road
mallë pl. maller noun"street, road" (MBAL, LR:47, 56, LT1:263, SD:310)
A noun for a “track” appearing in a 1968 essay, which Tolkien described as follows:
> Both Quenya and Lindarin [Telerin] also possessed a word ratta, which might be a derivative (by lengthening the medial consonant, a frequent device in Primitive Eldarin) from either ✱rattha [from RATH “climb”] or ✱ratta from the stem RAT [“find a way”] and in senses seems to be a blend of both. It meant ‘a track’; though often applied to ways known to mountaineers, to passes in the mountains and the climbing ways to them, it was not confined to ascents. It could be used of tracks across a marshland, or trails (blazed or sometimes marked by guide-stones) in forests (NM/363).
Thus Q./T. ratta seems to have applied to any “track” through the wilderness (not necessarily one that climbs) as a derivative of √RAT “find a way”, as opposed to S. rath “(climbing) track or street” that was more influenced by √RATH “climb”; see that entry for discussion.