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cotter

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Etymology and origin of the English word cotter

Pronunciation

  • UK: /kɒtə/[1]
  • US: /kɑtɚ/[1]

cotter1 peasant tenant

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing, Derivation
First attested
1125–1128 Liber Niger, in a Latin record
Borrowed from
Old French cotier via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Old English cot
Etymology tree of cotter1
inherited borrowed derived
English cot
English cotter

Etymology

The word for the peasant tenant, also spelled cottar, is inherited from Middle English coter, also cotier,[2] partly borrowed from Old French cotier (“cottager”)[2][3][4] and partly borrowed from Medieval Latin cotārius,[5][4][6] from cota (“cottage”), a word of Germanic origin akin to Old English cot.[3][5] It is also partly formed from English cot + -er, with the Scottish suffix form -ar as in scholar.[5][7][4][8] The Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English date it to late Old English,[7][9] and the Shorter Oxford notes that in early use it appears chiefly in surnames.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

One who holds a cottage and a small piece of farm land in return for labour: the form codder appears in a Latin list of tenants of 1125–28, the place name Coterfaude in 1199, and surnames such as le Cotier from 1198.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The word first described a class of medieval villein who held a cot with a plot of land in return for work for his lord.[7][2] Piers Plowman (before 1387) speaks of alms to comfort such cotyers.[2][4] After the Middle Ages it survived mainly in Scotland (from 1552) for a farm worker living in a cottage on the farm, at first in return for labour and later under a contract with the farmer;[5][7] Wright's dialect dictionary records it in Scotland, Ireland and northern England.[10] From 1791 it also described an Irish cottier.[5][7] From 1809 historians used it again to translate the cotarius of the Domesday Book.[5][7]

Timeline

  • 1125–28 – codder, a cottager holding land for labour, in a Latin record.[2]
  • 1199 – the place name Coterfaude.[2][4]
  • before 1387 – cotyers, in Piers Plowman.[2][4]
  • 1552 – in Scotland, a peasant living in a farm cottage in return for labour.[5]
  • 1791 – an Irish cottier.[5]
  • 1809 – historical, a cottager of the Domesday Book.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. In Scotland, a peasant or farm worker who lives in a cottage on a farm, sometimes with a small plot of land, in return for work.[6][5][7][11]
  2. (history) A medieval villein who held a cottage and a plot of land in return for labour for his lord.[6][7][5]
  3. (Irish history) A cottier.[7][5][6]

cotter2 pin or wedge

Confidence
Uncertain
First attested
1338 before 1338, Robert Mannyng's Chronicle

Etymology

The word for the pin or wedge is of uncertain origin.[5][3][12][4] It is perhaps a shortening of cotterel, a dialect word for a cotter or for a bar to hang a pot over the fire, itself of uncertain origin;[12][4][6][11] the OED notes that cotterel is the earlier on the evidence it had, and that cotter may be either its shortened form or the base of which it is a diminutive.[5] The Middle English Dictionary compares coterel.[2] Barnhart suggests that both may be borrowed from Old French coterele (“a piece of armour, perhaps attached to a helmet”),[4] while Hoad and Weekley take them as transferred uses of the words for a cottager, as German uses Stiefelknecht (“bootjack, literally boot-servant”).[8][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Perhaps a fastening bolt or pin: before 1338, in Robert Mannyng's Chronicle, of armour with coters of stel, in a manuscript of about 1450; the Middle English Dictionary queries the sense.[2][4] The OED's first record is of 1649, for a pin or wedge fixed through a hole,[5] and Etymonline dates the word to the 1640s.[12]

Semantic evolution

In the 17th century the noun and the verb to cotter, to fasten with a cotter, were both in use, the verb from 1649.[5] Wright's dialect dictionary records the noun across northern and midland England for an iron pin, peg or wedge, a linchpin.[10] Etymonline records the compound cotter pin from 1849.[12] Barnhart gives 1881, but sees it implied in cotter hole in 1649.[4]

Timeline

  • before 1338 – coter, perhaps a fastening pin.[2][4]
  • 1649 – a pin, key or wedge that fits into a hole to fasten parts; verb, to fasten with a cotter.[5]
  • 1849 – cotter pin.[12] Barnhart gives 1881.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A wedge, pin or bolt driven through a slot or hole to fasten two parts of a machine or structure together.[6][11][5]
  2. A cotter pin.[6][11]

Verb

  1. To fasten with a cotter.[6][11][5]

Word family

  • cotter pin
  • cotterless

Usage notes

Northern and midland English dialects also had a verb cotter, to tangle or mat, to clot, or to shrivel, which the OED takes as apparently a frequentative of the dialect verb cot.[5][10][6]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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)
  3. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ a b c Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  11. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  12. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Cotter.” Etymologically, 13 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/cotter. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

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