An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Matte

by Friedrich Kluge

Matte (1.), feminine (an Alemannian word unknown to Suabian and Bavarian), from the equivalent Middle High German mate, matte, feminine, ‘mead, meadow’; Old High German *matta, feminine, is wanting (but Old High German mato-scrëch, ‘grasshopper,’ is preserved). Gothic *maþwa, *mêdwa, is not recorded; compare English meadow, mead, from Anglo-Saxon mœ̂d (genitive mœ̂dwe), ‘meadow,’ Middle Low German mâde, Old Low German mâtha, mada, Old Frisian mêth. They seem to be based on a Teutonic root mâþ, med, which is connected with Latin mêto, ‘to mow, reap,’ and which has a shorter form, mê, in Modern High German mähen.

Matte (2.), feminine, ‘mat,’ from Middle High German matte (late Middle High German also matze), Old High German matta, feminine, ‘covering woven of straw, rushes, &c., mat’; Dutch mat, Anglo-Saxon meatte, feminine, English mat. The correspondence of the High German and Low German-English dental indicates that the word was borrowed, and as a fact it was introduced during the Old High German period. It is based on Latin matta, ‘mat made of rushes.’