English
tattered
Tattered comes from Old Norse tǫturr ‘tatters, rags’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *tat(t)uraz ‘tuft, bushy mass’.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*tat(t)uraz‘tuft, bushy mass’reconstructed
- Old Norsec. 800–1350tǫturr‘tatters, rags’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tatered
- Englishearliest quotation 1784tattered
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*tat(t)uraz‘tuft, bushy mass’reconstructed
- Old Norsec. 800–1350tǫturr‘tatters, rags’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tatered
- Englishearliest quotation 1784tattered
Earliest quotation: 1784, The House that Jack Built: “This is the Prieſt all ſhaven and ſhorn, that…”
Formed from tatter + -ed
Proto-Germanic *tat(t)uraz ‘tuft, patch’
Old Norse tǫturr ‘tatters, rags’
Middle English tater
English tatter
The story
Originally, it was derived from the noun, but it was later reanalysed as a past participle (tatter + -ed), whereafter the verb came into being.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *deh₂- ‘to split, cut, divide’
Today it means
adj Rent in tatters, torn, hanging in rags; ragged.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *tat(t)uraz / tattered