Etymologically
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mattus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈmat.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈmat.tus][1]

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]

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