matelot

English

Alternative forms

• matelo
• matlo, matlow

Etymology

From Middle French matelot (“sailor”). Compare Dutch matroos and German Matrose. Doublet of matross.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmæt.ləʊ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ætləʊ

Noun

matelot (plural matelots)

1. A sailor.
   • c. 1847, Joseph T. Downey, edited by Howard R. Lamar, The Cruise of Portsmouth 1845-1847, published 1958, page 216:

     Nor were they long finding what they sought for; first the grub matter was hunted up, and go where you would, you was sure to meet lots of Matelo’s [matelots—sailors] wending their way to their various quarters, loaded to the bends with what they called Belly Timber.

   • 1877 August, “The million dollar fish – a sailor’s yarn”, in The Sailor’s Magazine and Seaman’s Friend, page 233:

     “‘Hellow,” says Jimmy, “here’s some dunnage as has belonged to some poor matelo’,” and with that he picks out a wad of somethin’ and begins for to open it.

   • [1914, Fred T. Jane, Your Navy as a Fighting Machine, page 112:

     Matlo, name used to describe themselves by British bluejackets. Falling into disuse. Corruption of the French matelot.]

   • 1929 November 12, “Armistice night dinner. Ex-service men and guests foregather”, in Hong Kong Telegraph, page 2:

     A sailor would refer to a soldier as a ‘“leatherneck," and a soldier would call a sailor a “flat-footed matlow.” […] I must really congratulate you upon the collectlve composition of your guests. First, we have the “flat-footed matlow” (laughter), who has aspirations that must be satisfied in this incarnation or in another

   • 1984, John Harris, A Funny Place to Hold a War, London: Hutchinson, →ISBN:

     […] a chief petty officer, snarled something under his breath about bloody 'am-fisted matelots […]

   • 1997, Tristan Jones, Heart of Oak‎, Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.: Sheridan House, →ISBN, page 103:

     So far as the average matelot was concerned, there was little romanticism about the preference for frigates, destroyers, frail E-boats that could be blown up with one well-aimed cannon, and submarines, those breeding grounds of TB and madness.

   • 2004, Alan O'Reilly, Sound of Battle, Coral Springs, Florida: Llumina Press, →ISBN, page 147:

     One day, a stalwart sailor was brought in with a severe fracture below the knee […] A week later the leg had turned septic but the matelot was endearing cheerful. "Never mind, Sister" he assured Anne. "I'll get a piece of whalebone, like Captain Ahab."

   • 2005, William Atlay, All for a King's Shilling, Ely, Cambridgeshire: Melrose Books, →ISBN, page 72:

     Our matelot took us out to sea in what I believed was not a very seaworthy boat.

   • 2014 June 7, Vicki Woods, “Sadness, and a surprise, at the 9/11 Museum: The memorial at Ground Zero is filled with objects that shock the tears out of you”, in The Daily Telegraph‎, London, page 24:

     There were no signs and no one quite knew how to navigate the museum, including, as it was Fleet Week, gaggles of boyish sailors all in their summer whites. It looked like a Frank Sinatra movie. A bunch of these matelots surrounded a police officer, who said: "You guys are from the USS Cole? Thank you for your service. Want me to take you around?"

2. A mate; a boon companion.
   • 1949, Francis van Wyck Mason, Cutlass Empire, →OCLC:

     […] "Among the Brethren of the Coast—we tykes no wimmen save in passing, as it were, they being bothersome, frail and scatterbrained creatures. Instead we tykes a blood-brother, or matelot ... A matelot, 'e fights along side o' yer, nurses yer if yer falls sick. Wots 'is is yours and whats yours is 'is ... Take Klaas yonder, and young Pedro [described earlier as a slender-hipped boy with deep feminine brown eyes]; they shared the same barbacoa six, seven year and ye'll never come on 'em more than a few yards apart." To this explanation [Harry] Morgan listened in growing amazement and began to comprehend why none of these bestial-appearing boucan makers had so much as addressed Kate.

Adjective

matelot (not comparable)

1. (clothing, attributive) Associated with or typical of sailors.
   • 1968, Athol Thomas, Forgotten Eden, page 17:

     In minor key, but just as picturesque, were the uniforms of the port labouring staff—white sweat shirt, black matelot trousers and wide-brimmed straw hat with flat crown.

   • 1986, Diana Saunders, The Passion of Letty Fox, page 18:

     A small, dark, ferretlike man in a sailor’s dark coat and a French matelot cap with a red pompom was behind her on the stairs.

   • 1992, Tania Kindersley, Here for the Season, page 231:

     She wore the kind of wide trousers and matelot vest that used to feature so strongly in the fashion plates of the Thirties, those outdoor shots that Norman Parkinson liked to take in the South of France

References

• American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. s.v. "matelote"

Anagrams

• Lamotte, Mattole

French

Etymology

From Middle French matelot (“sailor”), from Old French matenot (“sailor, bunkmate”), most likely from Middle Dutch mattenoot (“bunk fellow”), corresponding to modern mat (“mat, rug, hammock”) + genoot (“companion”) or less likely Old Norse mǫtunautr (“food companion”) (from matr (“food”) + nautr (“companion”) << Proto-Germanic *ganautaz).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mat.lo/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Noun

matelot m (plural matelots, feminine matelote)

1. sailor (male), seaman

Descendants

• → Piedmontese: matlòt
• → Romanian: matelot

Further reading

• “matelot”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
• van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “matroos”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute

Norman

Noun

matelot m (plural matelots)

1. (Jersey) sailor

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French matelot.

Noun

matelot m (plural mateloți)

1. sailor

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	matelot	matelotul		mateloți	mateloții
genitive-dative	matelot	matelotului		mateloți	mateloților
vocative	matelotule			mateloților