mattus

Forms

mattus (feminine matta, neuter mattum); first/second-declension adjective^[1] Also spelled matus.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin madeō (“to be wet; to be drunk”), but the exact formation is disputed.^[1][3][5] Wiktionary takes it as a syncopated ⟨*madĭtus⟩, with /dt/ assimilated to /tt/;^[1] the TLL, following Specht, derives it rather from ⟨*mad(i)dus⟩, a shortened form of madidus (“soaked, drunk”), and thinks ⟨*mad(i)tus⟩ unlikely.^[3] Lewis & Short also compare the adjective.^[2]

The verb goes back to Proto-Italic *madē- and Proto-Indo-European *mh2d-eh1- (“to be wet”).^[6] Wiktionary compares Sanskrit मत्त (mattá, “drunk”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its only classical occurrence is in Petronius,^[2][4][3] where a speaker says plane mattus sum, vinus mihi in cerebrum abiit (“I'm quite tipsy, the wine has gone to my head”).^[3]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short take it as “drunk”,^[2] Gaffiot as “moistened, damp, soft”,^[4] and the TLL as “soaked”, that is, having drunk, with a question mark.^[3] A glossary explains mattum as moistened, softened, steeped.^[3]

Wiktionary lists Italian matto (“mad”) and French mat among its descendants.^[1] Etymonline gives it as a possible source of Old French mat “dull, dejected” and so of English matte, though the French word may instead come from the chess term for checkmate.^[7]

Timeline

• before 66 AD – In Petronius a speaker calls himself mattus after drinking.^[3][5]
• 1640s – English matte “dull” is borrowed from French mat, which may go back to this word.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Drunk, tipsy.^[2][1]
2. Moistened, soaked; soft.^[4][3]

Related words

• madidus
• English matte

Usage notes

Medieval Latin has other words spelled mattus: a sheaf or bundle of hemp, from Italian mazzo, found in Gregory of Catino (about 1110–1125),^[8][9][5] and the mate in chess, which a Polish sermon puns on: priests would rather play chess “with the scacus and the mattus than with Matthew”.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ Novum Glossarium Mediae Latinitatis ab anno DCCC usque ad annum MCC (1957–), Copenhagen / Geneva / Paris: Union Académique Internationale; IRHT
10. ^ Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl