Where does “maggot-pated” come from?

maggot-pated (English) comes from English pated, from English pâté, from French pâté, from French pâte, from Middle French paste, from Old French pasté, from Latin pasta, from Ancient Greek παστά — to shake.

maggot-pated (English): Having little sense; full of whims; capricious; maggoty

Definitions

  1. Having little sense; full of whims; capricious; maggoty

Ancestry of “maggot-pated”, step by step

maggot-pated traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via English pated

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishpatedHaving a pate or a particular type of pate
2EnglishpâtéA finely-ground paste of meat, fish or...
3Frenchpâtépaste; pâté
4Frenchpâtepaste; pastry; dough; batter; pastas
5Middle Frenchpaste
6Old Frenchpastépie or a similar baked good
7Latinpastapaste; nominative/vocative feminine singular of...
8Ancient Greekπαστάbarley porridge
9Ancient Greekπαστόςsprinkled with salt, salted; woman's chamber,...
10Ancient GreekπάσσωI sprinkle
11Proto-Indo-Europeankʷeh₁t-to shake

via English maggot

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishmaggotA soft, legless larva of a fly or other dipterous...
2Middle Englishmagotmaggot, bedbug
3Middle Englishmaddockworm", "maggot
Every word from Proto-Indo-European kʷeh₁t-