chato

Forms

chato (feminine chata, masculine plural chatos, feminine plural chatas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *plattus (“flat, flattened”), a Greek loan in Vulgar Latin, from Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús, “broad, flat”).^[2][3][4][1] The same word is Portuguese chato, French plat, Occitan plat, Catalan plat and Italian piatto, and the nouns plato and plata go back to it as well.^[2][1][5] The Greek adjective continues Proto-Indo-European *pléth₂us, from a root meaning “flat”.^[1]

The initial /tʃ/ from Latin /pl/ is the Portuguese outcome, where Castilian normally has /ʎ/, and the word is recorded late, so it may be a borrowing from Portuguese; the DLE speaks of Galician-Portuguese influence.^[2][4][1] Corominas does not rule that out, but thinks it more likely a popular, affective word kept out of serious writing before the Golden Age, whose /tʃ/ arose after a consonant, in phrases such as ⟨un chato⟩, ⟨es chato⟩ and ⟨los chatos⟩.^[2] He notes that the Portuguese word is no better attested in old texts.^[2] The nouns used in Juan Ruiz's Libro de buen amor, applied to mountain girls, seem to him to mean only “highlander”, so they cannot date the adjective.^[2]

The form ñato of the Americas comes from a cross with Leonese nacho (“snub-nosed”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Boyd-Bowman's first record is from Mexico in 1575: people who tienen la cara larga y las cabeças chatas “have long faces and flat heads”.^[6] Corominas's earliest records are Rosal's dictionary of 1601 and the first part of the Quijote (1605); in the second part Cervantes calls a village girl carirredonda y chata “round-faced and snub-nosed”.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

The Diccionario de Autoridades defines it as flat where a thing should be pointed or raised, above all of the nose, and of a person with a flattened nose, the same as romo.^[7] Seventeenth-century writers mostly kept to romo, the more refined word.^[2] From the start it also meant simply “flat”: Río de la Plata texts of 1581 speak of barcas chatas “flat-bottomed boats”, and chata “barge” is recorded from 1720.^[6][3]

Modern Spanish uses it figuratively for dull or narrow-minded ideas, and as a noun for a low, wide wine glass in taverns; the feminine names a bedpan, a barge, and la chata is death.^[4][8] In Spain it is an affectionate form of address, especially to children and to women.^[8][1] In Peru, Bolivia, Chile and north-western Argentina it means “short”, in Chile “fed up”, and in Venezuela a business that brings little profit.^[9][4] The Catalan word xato was taken from Spanish.^[1]

Timeline

• 1575 – first record, from Mexico: las cabeças chatas.^[6]
• 1581 – barcas chatas “flat-bottomed boats” on the Río de la Plata.^[6]
• 1601 – Rosal's dictionary, Corominas's first record.^[2][3]
• 1605 – the first part of Cervantes's Quijote uses the word.^[2][7]
• 1611 – Covarrubias has the word under chatón.^[2]
• 1720 – chata “flat-bottomed boat” is recorded.^[3]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines it as flat, especially of the nose.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a nose: flattened, not prominent; snub-nosed.^[4][1]
2. Of a person, also as a noun: having a flat nose.^[4]
3. Of a thing: lower, shorter or flatter than expected: un barco de casco chato.^[4][8]
4. (figurative) Intellectually poor or narrow-minded.^[4]
5. (Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, colloquial) Of a person: short.^[4][9]
6. (Chile, colloquial) Fed up, sick of something.^[9][1]
7. (Venezuela, colloquial) Of a business: bringing little profit.^[4]

Noun

1. (Spain, colloquial) A low, wide glass of wine served in taverns: ¿Nos tomamos unos chatos?^[4][8]
2. (Spain, colloquial) A term of endearment, especially to a child: “kiddo”.^[8][1]

Word family

• achatar
• carichato

Related words

• plato
• plata
• ñato
• romo
• Portuguese chato
• French plat

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 345
3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. chato
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. chato
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. plattus
6. ^ a b c d Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. chato
7. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. chato
8. ^ a b c d e Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. chato
9. ^ a b c Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. chato