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mât

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Etymology and origin of the French word mât

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1100 Chanson de Roland More words from the 11th century
Borrowed from
Frankish *mast via Old French
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *mastaz

Pronunciation

  • /ma/, /mɑ/[1]
  • Canada: /mɑ/[1]

Forms

mât m (plural mâts)[1] Old French mast and mat; the spelling mât is recorded from 1671 (Pomey).[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French mast, borrowed from Frankish *mast, perhaps through Medieval Latin mastus.[4][5][6][1][7] The Frankish word is reconstructed from Middle Dutch mast, Middle Low German and Old High German mast, all “ship's mast”;[4][5] The Medieval Latin form already glosses mālus (“mast”) in the Reichenau Glosses of the 8th century.[4] It goes back to Proto-Germanic *mastaz.[1]

Cognate with the English word mast and German Mast.[5][6] Rey connects the Germanic form with Proto-Indo-European *mazdo-, also the source of the Latin word for mast, and with Old Irish and Irish words for timber and stick.[5] Romance forms include Walloon mastai and Old Occitan mast.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Chanson de Roland (about 1100) has mast for the tall pole on a ship that carries the yards and rigging: en som ces mats et en ces hautes vergues “at the top of these masts and these high yards”.[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The nautical sense has remained central, with many compounds naming the masts of a ship: mât de misaine (1636), grand mât, mât de hune and mât de perroquet (1690, Furetière).[2][5] By likeness it came to name other tall poles: the pole of a tent or circus top (1680, Richelet), the stick of an umbrella (1812), the mât de cocagne or greasy pole (1821), a climbing pole for gymnasts (1868, Littré), a railway signal post (1873), a festival pole carrying flags (1902) and, in early aviation, the strut between the wings of a biplane (1922).[4][5]

From the old use of mât for a ship as a whole (1685–1752) come the compounds trois-mâts (1835) and deux-mâts (1864).[5]

Timeline

  • c. 1100 – Mast appears in the Chanson de Roland.[4]
  • 1382 – The verb mâter (then master) is recorded.[6][5]
  • 1590 – démâter is recorded.[6]
  • 1671 – Pomey writes mât.[2]
  • 1680 – Richelet records the sense “tent pole”.[4]
  • 1681 – mâture is recorded.[5]
  • 1821 – First record of mât de cocagne.[4]
  • 1835 – Trois-mâts is recorded.[6][5]
  • 1859 – Mât de charge appears.[4]
  • 1873 – It names a railway signal post.[4]
  • 1922 – It is used in aviation for a wing strut.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (nautical) A mast: a tall wooden or metal spar set up on a ship to carry the yards and sails, or on a modern ship its radio and radar installations.[8][4]
  2. Grand mât, mât de misaine, mât d'artimon: the mainmast, foremast and mizzenmast.[8][5]
  3. Mât de charge: a derrick for loading and unloading cargo.[8][4]
  4. A long pole: a tent pole, a flagpole, a climbing pole for gymnasts.[4][2][1]
  5. Mât de cocagne: a greasy pole with prizes at the top, climbed at fairs.[4]
  6. (aviation, dated) A strut holding the wings of a biplane apart.[4][9]

Word family

  • mâter
  • démâter
  • mâture
  • trois-mâts
  • mâtereau
  • bas-mât
  • Frankish *mast
  • English mast

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  3. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 16, 540a
  8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Mât.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/m%C3%A2t. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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