English
potato
Potato comes from Spanish patata, and goes back to Taíno batata ‘sweet potato’.
- Taínomodernbatata‘sweet potato’
- Spanishc. 1500–presentpatata
- Englishearliest quotation 1757potato
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Taínomodernbatata‘sweet potato’
- Spanishc. 1500–presentpatata
- Englishearliest quotation 1757potato
Earliest quotation: 1757, Tobias Smollett, The Reprisal: Or: “I don't value Monſieur de Champignon a rotten potatoe;…”
Every English word from Taíno batata
Today it means
noun The edible starchy tuber of the plant species Solanum tuberosum.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Taíno batata / potato