peat

peat¹ fuel, decayed plant matter

Etymology

The word for the fuel is inherited from Middle English pete,^[2][3] which most dictionaries take as borrowed from Medieval Latin peta,^{[3][4][5][6][7][8]} the form used in the Latin of Scottish documents from about 1200^[9][10] and frequently in British sources from 1159 to 1545.^[11] The Latin word itself is often traced to a Celtic language: Barnhart, Etymonline and the Middle English Dictionary derive it from Proto-Celtic *pett-, the source of Cornish peyth (“a small bit or piece”), Welsh peth (“quantity, part, thing”), Old Irish pet and Breton pez (“piece”).^[12][10][2] Hoad and the OED connect this Celtic base with the one proposed for petia (“piece”), the source of piece, assuming a change of meaning from "piece" to "piece of peat" to "peat".^[5][11] Weekley pointed out that the earliest sense is the cut piece of turf, not the substance, which favours such a word for "piece".^[9][10] The OED, revised in 2005, still calls the origin unknown: the English word may come from an unrecorded Pictish or British word, and the Latin form may be either Celtic or English, as turba was taken from turf.^[11] Place names such as “Petepottes”, about 1200 in Cumberland, and surnames such as Peter atte Peat (1326) show that the English word was in use before its first record.^[11][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

A piece of peat cut for use as fuel: 1333, in a Patent Roll of Edward III, in the form pete.^[11][12] The substance itself is first recorded about 1400, in an Edinburgh charter.^[11]

Semantic evolution

As Weekley and Etymonline note, the word first named the cut piece, typically shaped like a brick, and only later the bog deposit it was cut from.^[9][10][11] The countable sense, a peat, is still chiefly Scottish and northern.^[11][6] Middle English already had compounds such as pete hous, a shed for storing peats, and pete mos, a peat bog.^[2] Etymonline dates peat-moss in the sense of a peat bog to the mid-13th century, and its use for sphagnum moss to 1880.^[10] From 1570 the word could also mean a piece of turf or a sod, a sense now rare.^[11] Johnson (1755) defined it as a kind of turf used for fire.^[13] Wright's dialect dictionary records many compounds from Scotland, Ireland and northern England, such as peat-bank, the place where peat is cut.^[14] In the late 20th century peat also became the name of a dark brown colour.^[11][6]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – the place name “Petepottes”, in Cumberland.^[11][12]
• mid-13th century – peat-moss, a peat bog.^[10]
• 1333 – a piece of peat cut for fuel.^[11][12]
• c. 1400 – the substance, partly decayed plant matter in bogs.^[11]
• 1570 – a piece of turf, a sod (now rare).^[11]
• 1775 – peat-bog.^[10]
• 1880 – peat moss, sphagnum moss.^[10]
• 1971 – a dark brown colour.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A brown, soil-like deposit of partly decayed plant matter, especially moss, formed in wet bogs and fens, and cut and dried for fuel or used in gardening: They dug peat into the vegetable beds.^[8][3][11]
2. A piece of this, cut and dried for burning: She put two more peats on the fire.^[8][3][11]
3. A dark brown colour like that of peat.^[11][6]

Word family

• peaty
• peatland
• peat bog
• peat moss
• peatery

peat² girl, darling

Etymology

The word for a girl or woman is of unknown or uncertain origin.^{[3][6][11][4]} The OED suggests that it may come from Middle Dutch pete (“godmother”), recorded in 1330, which is related to Dutch peet (“godparent”) and German Pate and goes back to Latin pater or Medieval Latin patrinus; or that it may be a variant of pet with a lengthened vowel, though it thinks it more likely a word of separate origin influenced in meaning by pet.^[11] The Shorter Oxford compares pet,^[6] while Klein holds that the two are not related.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A girl or young woman, often as a term of endearment, and formerly a sweetheart: 1566, in W. Painter's Palace of Pleasure.^[11][3] In the same year T. Drant used it of a pet animal, a sense that did not last.^[11]

Semantic evolution

From 1577 the word was used scornfully of a proud or conceited woman, especially in the phrase proud peat.^[11][6] In late 17th-century Scotland a peat was a lawyer supposed to enjoy the favour of a particular judge.^[11][6] The word fell out of use by the early 18th century and was revived by Walter Scott in the early 19th, who in 1818 also used it of a man.^[11][6] Merriam-Webster quotes Shakespeare's a pretty peat for a bold, lively woman.^[3] In the 19th century it was still used in Scotland, Lancashire and Nottinghamshire, both fondly and contemptuously.^[14]

Timeline

• 1566 – a girl or young woman, a term of endearment; also a pet animal (obsolete by 1573).^[11]
• 1577 – a proud or conceited woman, especially proud peat.^[11]
• c. 1680 – in Scotland, a lawyer favoured by a particular judge.^[11]
• 1818 – used of a man, in Walter Scott's Heart of Mid-Lothian.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. (archaic) A girl or young woman, especially a lively one; also used as a term of endearment.^[3][6][11]
2. (archaic, derogatory) A proud or conceited woman, especially in proud peat.^[11][6]
3. (Scotland, historical) A lawyer thought to be favoured by a particular judge.^[11][6]