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this post was submitted on 11 Jun 2024
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Mildly Interesting
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Yep all 3 are valid, matte is the new variant. https://www.etymonline.com/word/matte#etymonline_v_9722
And I’ve seen all 3 in use in the USA. It’s not matte = Canada. I’ve seen matte more than mat which is historically the spelling. The oed doesn’t list matt as the proper spelling but who knows with the brits.
Chamber's dictionary has it as "Mat, or Matt, or matte" stating that it comes from the French "mat" or the German "matt", so fuck knows where matte comes from!
Probably my Stavanger-dialect in Norway. It's matt in Norwegian, but matte in my dialect.
The American spelling "matte" probably comes from the spelling "mate" derived from French "mate", and doubling the "t" to differentiate it from "mate". The British spelling "matt" was probably primarily influenced by the German word "Matt" considering the UK tended to have more German influence.
Alternatively, either (or both) may be an etymological spelling from Latin "mattus" (which means "drunk" but likely became a word for "pale" in French).
While I am a linguist, I only deduced this from a bit of Googling and a lot of speculating, so don't take my word for it...