Etymograph

English

vat

Vat comes from Middle English fat ‘vat, vessel, cask’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *pod-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pod-‘vessel’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fatą‘vessel’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fat‘vessel, container’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150fæt‘vat, vessel’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fat‘vat, vessel, cask’
  6. Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500vatdialectal variant of fat
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1931same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pod-‘vessel’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fatą‘vessel’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fat‘vessel, container’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150fæt‘vat, vessel’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fat‘vat, vessel, cask’
  6. Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500vatdialectal variant of fat
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1931same form

Earliest quotation: 1931, William Faulkner, Sanctuary: “He was thinking of the grape arbor in Kingston,…”

Linked words

through Middle English fat ‘vat, vessel, cask’

fat

Today it means

noun A large tub, such as is used for making wine or for tanning.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *pod- / vat

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