Etymograph

English

hat

Hat comes from Old English hætt, from Proto-West Germanic *hattu, from Proto-Germanic *hattuz, of unclear origin.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hattuz‘hat’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hattu‘hat’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150hætt
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hat‘a hat or cap’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1830same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hattuz‘hat’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hattu‘hat’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150hætt
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hat‘a hat or cap’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1830same form

Earliest quotation: 1830, Edward Bulwer-Lytton: “I knew intimately all the 'Hats' in the University,…”

The story

Verb sense 4 derives from a common English Wikipedia template used to collapse disruptive discussions, {{Hidden archive top}}, abbreviated as {{hat}}.

Every English word from Proto-Germanic *hattuz

Today it means

noun A covering for the head, often in the approximate form of a cone, dome or cylinder closed at its top end, and sometimes having a brim and other decoration.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *hattuz / hat

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