Etymologically
Log in

plata

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Latin word plata

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Derivation
First attested
941
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek πλατύς
From the same root
English plate ← plata

Forms

plata f (genitive platae); first declension[1][2] Polish Latin also writes platta, platha, placa and placta.[3]

Etymology

It is probably from Vulgar Latin *plattus (“flat”), a Vulgar Latin adjective formed on the model of Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús, “flat, broad”).[4][5] Köbler likewise refers it to the Greek adjective, which he traces to Proto-Indo-European *plat- (“broad, flat”).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates its first record to 941, in the documents of the Spanish March, and glosses the word as a plate or valuable piece of metal, silver, silverware, silver coin and plate armour.[2]

Semantic evolution

In medieval Latin it meant a plate or sheet of metal,[6] silver as a metal, objects made of silver, and plate armour.[1] Accounts of 1340 for the papal chamber record plates of gold weighed in marks, and in Poland it also meant a coin, a breastplate and the shaven circle of the tonsure.[3] Under the same spelling Du Cange records a kind of flat-bottomed boat,[6][1] and a toll whose name perhaps came from these boats.[6]

English took plate “flat sheet of gold or silver” from Old French in the mid-13th century, and the Old French word goes back to this Medieval Latin one.[4] In Spanish plata and Portuguese prata the word became the usual name of silver, through the shortening of a phrase meaning “plate of silver”.[4]

Timeline

  • 941 – First recorded, in the documents of the Spanish March.[2]
  • 1168 – A charter names a toll called plata.[6]
  • mid-13th century – English borrows Old French plate, from this word.[4]
  • 1340 – Accounts for the papal chamber record plates of gold, one weighing six marks.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (Medieval Latin) A plate or bar of metal, especially of silver or gold; silver.[1][6][3]
  2. (Medieval Latin) Objects made of silver, plate.[1][2]
  3. (Medieval Latin) A coin.[3][2]
  4. (Medieval Latin) Plate armour; a breastplate.[1][3]
  5. (Medieval Latin) A kind of flat-bottomed boat.[6][1]
  6. (Medieval Latin) A bald patch; the tonsure.[3]

Usage notes

Du Cange also records plata for platea “town square” in a set of Italian town statutes.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  2. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
  4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  6. ^ a b c d e f g du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre

Descendants

Cite this entry

“Plata.” Etymologically, 24 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/plata. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·