Etymograph

English

bate

Bate comes from Old French abatre ‘to knock down’, and goes back to Latin battere.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbattere
  2. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEabbattere
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400abatre‘to knock down’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500baten‘to abate’
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1597bate

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbattere
  2. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEabbattere
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400abatre‘to knock down’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500baten‘to abate’
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1597bate

Earliest quotation: c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The History of Henrie the Fourth; […]: “Bardoll, am I not falne away vilely ſince this…”

Linked words

through Latin battere

bat, batter, batten, 8 more

through Old French abatre ‘to knock down’

abatement, abattoir, 3 more

Another origin of bate

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbattere
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400batre‘to beat’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bate‘contention’
  4. Englishtodaysame form

Another origin of bate

  1. Swedishmodernbeta‘maceration, tanning’
  2. Englishtodaybate

Today it means

verb To reduce the force of something; to abate.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Latin battere / bate

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