Etymologically
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mat

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Pronunciation

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

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)