English
puppet
Puppet comes from Middle English popet ‘a small or young person’.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500popet‘a small or young person’
- Englishearliest quotation 1820puppet
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500popet‘a small or young person’
- Englishearliest quotation 1820puppet
Earliest quotation: 1820, Walter Scott, The Monastery. A Romance. […]: “These men , from no worse motive that could…”
The story
From Middle English popet, probably from, though attested earlier than, Middle French poupette, diminutive of poupée (cf. also Medieval Latin *pupata), ultimately derived from Latin pupa (‘doll, puppet; girl’). The nominal form first appears c. 1531, and the verbal form c. 1635.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w- ‘few, little’
few, poor, fewer, pose, pause, pave, puppy, filly, pediatrics, pedagogy, menopausal, paucity, posada, orthopedics, puerile, 31 more
through Latin pupa ‘doll, puppet’
Today it means
noun Any small model of a person or animal able to be moved by strings or rods, or in the form of a glove.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English popet / puppet