Etymograph

English

plate

Plate comes from Old French plate, from Medieval Latin plata, from Vulgar Latin *plattus ‘flat’, from Ancient Greek πλατύς ‘broad, flat’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleth₂-‘flat’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*pléth₂us‘flat’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*plətús‘wide’reconstructed
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπλατύςplatús‘broad’
  5. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*plattus‘flat’reconstructed
  6. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500plata
  7. Old Frenchc. 842–1400plate‘a flat metal disk’
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1590same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleth₂-‘flat’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*pléth₂us‘flat’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*plətús‘wide’reconstructed
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπλατύςplatús‘broad’
  5. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*plattus‘flat’reconstructed
  6. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500plata
  7. Old Frenchc. 842–1400plate‘a flat metal disk’
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1590same form

Earliest quotation: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto V: “He hewd, and lasht, and foynd, and thondred blowes,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂- ‘flat’

flat, piazza, collateral, lateral, plantain, flan, 14 more

through Proto-Hellenic *plətús ‘wide, broad’

plaza, 6 more

through Ancient Greek πλατύς ‘broad, flat, wide’

plane, platform, platinum, plaice, platitude, 5 more

through Old French plate ‘a flat plate of armor’

platter

Another origin of plate

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplata
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150platian
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500platen
  4. Englishtodayplate

Another origin of plate

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleth₂-‘flat’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*pléth₂us‘flat, broad’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*plətús‘wide, broad’reconstructed
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπλατύς‘wide’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CE*plattus‘flat’reconstructed
  6. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*platta‘metal plate’reconstructedfeminine of *plattus
  7. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplata‘silver’
  8. Englishtodayplate

Another origin of plate

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleth₂-‘flat’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*pléth₂us‘flat, broad’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*plətús‘wide, broad’reconstructed
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπλατύς‘wide’
  5. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*plattareconstructed
  6. Spanishc. 1500–presentplata‘silver’
  7. Englishtodayplate

Today it means

noun A slightly curved but almost flat dish from which food is served or eaten.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂- / plate

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