ate

Forms

āte f (weak n-stem; genitive singular ātan, nominative plural ātan)^[1] Also ǣte, with i-umlaut.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *aitā.^[1] Holthausen gives no etymology, and Etymonline calls the word of uncertain origin, perhaps connected with Old Norse eitill (“nodule”) as the name of a single grain.^[4][5] Etymonline also notes cognates in Frisian and some Dutch dialects;^[5][6] Bosworth–Toller's comparison with an Old Norse word for food is withdrawn in the Supplement.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest record is in the Épinal Glossary (late seventh or about 700), where atae glosses Latin “lolium”, darnel.^[7][8] The Corpus Glossary (first half of the ninth century) has Auena ate, the cultivated oat.^[9][8]

Semantic evolution

The word covers both the oat and the weeds of the cornfield: in the glossaries it renders Latin “auena” (oats), “lolium” (darnel) and “zizania” (tares).^[10][11] In the Lindisfarne gloss of the parable of the tares, unwæstma vel wilde ata renders “zizania”.^[12][8] In the Leechbook, meal and groats of oats go into remedies.^[10][2]

As Middle English ote, mostly in the plural, it named the grain of oats, and it is English oat.^[3][5]

Timeline

• s. vii ex. or vii/viii – atae glossing “lolium” (darnel) in the Épinal Glossary.^[7][8]
• s. ix¹ – Auena ate “oats” in the Corpus Glossary.^[9][8]
• s. x³/⁴ – wilde ata “wild oats, tares” in the Lindisfarne gloss.^[12][8]
• c1275 – Middle English aten in Laȝamon's Brut.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. oats, the oat plant and its grain.^[10][11]
2. (glosses) wild oats, tares, darnel.^[10][6]

Descendants

• Middle English ate (→ English oat; Scots ate; Scots ait)^[1]

Related words

• ātih

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 21
3. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
4. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 7
5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 54
7. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 610
8. ^ a b c d e f Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
9. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 76
10. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 57
11. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. āte, ǣte
12. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 291