Etymograph

English

palmetto

Palmetto comes from Spanish palmito ‘heart of palm’, and goes back to Latin palma.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpalma
  2. Old Spanishc. 950–1500same form
  3. Spanishc. 1500–presentsame form‘palm tree’
  4. Spanish, derivedc. 1500–presentpalmito‘heart of palm’diminutive of palma
  5. Englishearliest quotation a. 1749palmetto

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history not traced here.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpalma
  2. Old Spanishc. 950–1500same form
  3. Spanishc. 1500–presentsame form‘palm tree’
  4. Spanish, derivedc. 1500–presentpalmito‘heart of palm’diminutive of palma
  5. Englishearliest quotation a. 1749palmetto

Earliest quotation: a. 1749, James Thomson, Summer: “Broad o'er my Head the verdant Cedar wave, /…”

Linked words

through Latin palma

parma, napalm, palmar, 8 more

through Spanish palma ‘palm tree’

palma, 2 more

Today it means

noun Any of various fan palms of the family Arecaceae, especially Sabal palmetto or the saw palmetto, Serenoa repens.

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

Etymograph / Latin palma / palmetto

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