English
cote
Cote comes from Middle English cote ‘a coat, especially if worn as an undergarment’, and goes back to Old English cot ‘small house’.
- Old Englishc. 450–1150cot‘small house’
- Old English, derivedc. 450–1150cotefeminine form of cot
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form‘a coat, especially if worn as an undergarment’
- Englishearliest quotation 1667same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history not traced here.
Lineage
- Old Englishc. 450–1150cot‘small house’
- Old English, derivedc. 450–1150cotefeminine form of cot
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form‘a coat, especially if worn as an undergarment’
- Englishearliest quotation 1667same form
Earliest quotation: 1667, John Milton, Book IV: “Watching where shepherds pen their flocks, at eve, /…”
The story
From Middle English cote, from the Old English cote, the feminine form of cot (‘small house’); doublet of cot (in the sense of “cottage”) and more distantly related to cottage.
Linked words
through Old English cot ‘small house’
through Middle English cote ‘a coat, especially if worn as an undergarment’
Today it means
noun A cottage or hut.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old English cot / cote