English
plat
Plat comes from Middle English plat ‘plat: flat’.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500plat‘plat: flat’
- Englishearliest quotation 1580same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500plat‘plat: flat’
- Englishearliest quotation 1580same form
Earliest quotation: 1580, Richard Hakluyt, Anno 1580: To M. Arthur Pet: “For which cauſe I wiſh you to enter into…”
The story
The noun is derived from Middle English plat, platte (‘flat part of a sword; flat piece of ground, plot of ground’), probably a variant of Middle English plot, (modern English plot) and influenced by Middle English plat, plate (modern English plate) and Anglo-Norman, Middle French and Old French plat.
Every English word from Middle English plat
Another origin of plat
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500platte
- Englishtodayplat
The noun is a variant of plait. The verb is from Middle English platte, English plat, respectively archaic past and past participle forms of English pleat (a variant of plait), Middle English platten (‘to braid, weave; plait; to fold’).
Another origin of plat
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleth₂-‘flat’uncertain
- Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*pléth₂usuncertain
- Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*plətúsuncertain
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπλατύςplatús‘flat’uncertain
- Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*plattus‘flat’reconstructed
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400plat‘(adjective) flat, level’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form‘plat: flat’
- Englishtodaysame form
The English word is cognate with French plat, Italian piatto, Middle Dutch plat (modern Dutch plat (‘flat’)), Middle High German blat, plat, Middle Low German plat (modern German platt (‘flat’)), Old Danish plat (modern Danish plat), Old Occitan plat (modern Occitan plat), Old Swedish plat (modern Swedish platt); and is a doublet of flat and pleyt.
Today it means
noun A plot of land; a lot.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English plat / plat