Where does “doormat” come from?
Doormat comes from English door and English mat, where mat derives from French matinée, Latin matta, Latin -alis, Latin -ia, Ancient Greek -ία, and Proto-Indo-European méh₂tēr.
doormat (English): A coarse mat at the entrance to a house, upon...
Definitions
- A coarse mat at the entrance to a house, upon...
Ancestry of “doormat”, step by step
doormat traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English Mat
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Mat | a Malay man |
| 2 | English | matinée | Alternative spelling of matinee |
| 3 | French | matinée | morning |
| 4 | Middle French | matinee | morning |
| 5 | Old French | matinee | morning |
| 6 | Old French | matin | morning |
| 7 | Latin | mātūtīnus | morning |
| 8 | Latin | -īnus | of or pertaining to; -ine |
| 9 | Proto-Italic | -īnos | of/belonging to |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | -iHnos | Creates adjectives of materials |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | -no- | adjectival suffix |