Etymology: Origin unknown; perhaps a borrowing of an unattested Pictish or British word, perhaps < the same Celtic base as the suggested etymon of post-classical Latin petia piece n. (on the assumption that the semantic development was from ‘piece’ to ‘piece of peat’ to ‘peat’). Compare post-classical Latin peta (frequently 1159–1545 in British sources), apparently either < a Celtic language or < English (compare similarly turba turf: see turf n.¹).Earlier currency of the English word is implied by place names (e.g. Petepottes , c1200 in Cumberland (compare peat pot n.¹), Pethuneshake, c1200 in Durham (probably literally ‘oak by the peat moss’), Peith and Peet, 1202 and 1291 in Essex) and surnames (e.g. Peter atte Peat, 1326).

Etymology: Origin uncertain. Perhaps < Middle Dutch pete godmother (1330), godfather (c1483; compare Dutch peet godparent (17th cent.), Dutch regional (Brabantic, Holland) peet old woman, grandmother, Dutch regional (Brabantic, Antwerp) peet godchild; compare German regional pfette (16th cent.), Middle Low German pade godparent, godchild ( > Middle High German pate (13th cent.), German Pate )), either < classical Latin pater pater n.² (in the post-classical Latin phrase pater spiritualis ‘spiritual father’ (12th cent. or earlier in this sense)) or < post-classical Latin patrinus (see padrino n.). Or perhaps a variant of pet n.² with lengthened vowel; alternatively (and perhaps more likely) the word may be of separate origin and have been influenced semantically by association with pet n.²In sense 2 apparently not used after the early 18th cent. and reintroduced by Scott in the early 19th cent. The extended use in sense 2b is apparently only found in the works of Scott and his imitators. In quot. 1706 at sense 3 perhaps a pun on the personal name Pete , shortened < Peter n.