Etymograph

English

piñata

Piñata comes from Latin pinea ‘pinecone’, and goes back to pīnus ‘pine tree, fir tree’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpīnus‘pine tree, fir tree’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEpinea‘pinecone’next step skipped: Italian pignatta
  3. Mexican Spanishmodernpiñata
  4. Englishearliest quotation 2020same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpīnus‘pine tree, fir tree’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEpinea‘pinecone’next step skipped: Italian pignatta
  3. Mexican Spanishmodernpiñata
  4. Englishearliest quotation 2020same form

Earliest quotation: 2020, Drachinifel: “[…] Wiesbaden, largely crippled, nevertheless refuses to sink for…”

The story

Unadapted borrowing from Mexican Spanish piñata, from piña (‘pinecone’), from Latin pinea, because its paper cover (on traditional making) resembles one. Alternatively from Spanish via Italian pignatta (‘clay pot’), from a Chinese custom allegedly introduced by Marco Polo.disputed Scholars disagree here; the competing view is quoted as the source gives it.

Linked words

through Latin pīnus ‘pine tree, fir tree’

pine, pinot, 7 more

through Latin pinea ‘pinecone’

pineal

Today it means

noun A doll or other decorated container that is filled with candy and hit with a hammer or a stick by blindfolded children during birthday parties or other celebrations until the candy falls out.

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

Etymograph / Latin pīnus / piñata

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