Etymograph

English

mate

Mate comes from Middle Low German mate, earlier gemate ‘messmate’, from Proto-Germanic *gamatô ‘table companion’, built on *matiz ‘food’.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*matiz‘food’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*gamatô‘messmate, table companion’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*gamatōreconstructed
  4. Old Saxonc. 800–1200*gimatoreconstructed
  5. Middle Low Germanc. 1200–1600gemate‘messmate’
  6. Middle Low German, derivedc. 1200–1600mate‘messmate’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1611same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*matiz‘food’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*gamatô‘messmate, table companion’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*gamatōreconstructed
  4. Old Saxonc. 800–1200*gimatoreconstructed
  5. Middle Low Germanc. 1200–1600gemate‘messmate’
  6. Middle Low German, derivedc. 1200–1600mate‘messmate’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1611same form

Earliest quotation: 1611, The Tragedie of Cymbeline: “If she be mated with an equal husband.”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *meh₂d- ‘to be wet, to become wet’

meet, mod, moot, meatless, 12 more

through Proto-Germanic *matiz ‘food’

meat, amadou, 4 more

through Proto-Germanic *matjô

mason, mace, 2 more

Another origin of mate

  1. Persianc. 900–presentشاهماتšâh mâtas شاه مات‘checkmate’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400mat‘checkmate’
  3. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600mater
  4. Englishtodaymate

Today it means

noun A fellow, comrade, colleague, partner or someone with whom something is shared, e.g. shipmate, classmate.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *matiz / mate

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