mat

Pronunciation

• IPA: /mæt/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English matte, inherited from Old English matte,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Late Latin matta (“mat of rushes”),^[2][3][5] probably from Punic or Phoenician, compare Biblical Hebrew מִטָּה (miṭṭā, “bed, couch”).^[2][3][5] The Latin word also gave German Matte and Dutch mat.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A piece of coarse fabric of plaited rushes or straw, used as bedding or a floor covering: about 725 in the OED, before 800 in Barnhart.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

A piece of material laid on a surface for protection is a nautical use from the 15th century,^[4] and a small mat under a dish or plate is by 1800.^[3] A tangled mass is from 1835.^[3] The padded mat of gymnasts and wrestlers is from 1892, hence to go to the mat, to do battle (1910),^[3] and on the mat, in trouble with authority, from 1898.^[6] The verb is from the early 15th century, to make mats, and to become tangled from the 1570s.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 725 – matte.^[6]
• 1549 – to cover with mats.^[2]
• 1577 – to tangle.^[2]
• 1800 – a table mat.^[3]
• 1892 – a gymnastics mat.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A piece of thick material laid on the floor, as for wiping one's feet or as a rug.
2. A small piece of material placed under a dish, lamp or the like to protect a surface.
3. A thick padded floor covering for gymnastics, wrestling or judo.
4. A thick tangled mass, as of hair.

Verb

1. To become tangled into a thick mass, or to make so.

Word family

• matless
• cocomat
• intermat
• matty
• doormat
• place mat
• welcome mat
• bath mat

Related words

• matting
• mattress
• napkin

Usage notes

A different mat (also matt, matte), dull and without lustre, is from French mat, from the 17th century.^[4][5] In East Anglia a mat was a mattock for grubbing out furze.^[7]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ 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)