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-1‘vessel’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fatą1‘vessel’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fat1‘vessel, container’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150fæt1‘vat, vessel’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fat1‘vat, vessel, cask’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500vat1dialectal variant of fat
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1931vat1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English vat
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1931, William Faulkner, Sanctuary: “He was thinking of the grape arbor in Kingston,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pod-Wiktionary, English vat‘vessel’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fatąWiktionary, English vat‘vessel’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*fatWiktionary, English vat‘vessel, container’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150fætWiktionary, English vat‘vat, vessel’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fatWiktionary, English vat‘vat, vessel, cask’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500vatWiktionary, English vatdialectal variant of fat
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1931vatWiktionary, English vat. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 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.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “vat”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

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

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