English
pot
Pot comes from Middle English pot, from Old English pott (and Old French pot), from Proto-Germanic *puttaz, of unknown origin.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*puttaz‘pot, jar’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150pott‘pot’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pot‘a cookpot’
- Englishearliest quotation 1623same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*puttaz‘pot, jar’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150pott‘pot’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pot‘a cookpot’
- Englishearliest quotation 1623same form
Earliest quotation: 1623, Owen Feltham, Resolves: Divine: “It is less labour to plough than to pot…”
The story
The sense of ruin or deterioration was originally a general allusion to "being chopped up and tossed in a (normally fiery) pot, like a piece of meat" (i.e. to get wasted or done with (by someone)). The 'clean' slang term which was used in reference to toilet rooms and lavatories apparently derives from English chamberpots, although now usually encountered as potty in the context of children's toilet training.
Linked words
through Proto-Germanic *puttaz
Another origin of pot
- Spanishc. 1500–presentpotiguayauncertain
- Englishtodaypot
Possibly a shortened form of Mexican Spanish potiguaya or potaguaya (‘cannabis leaves’), or potación de guaya (literally “drink of grief”), supposedly denoting a drink of wine or brandy in which marijuana buds were steeped, from pota + de + guaya (see guayar (‘to lament’)).
Another origin of pot
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpōtus
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEpōtō‘to drink’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEpōtiō‘drinking’supine stem of pōtō
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400pocion
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500pocioun‘a liquid medicine or remedy’
- English1500–presentpotion
- Englishtodaypot
Today it means
noun A flat-bottomed vessel (usually metal) used for cooking food, possibly excluding saucepans (see usage notes).
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *puttaz / pot