Probably a remodelling of earliereat by analogy with other strong verbs such asbreak:†brake,give:gave,speak:†spake; compare the same process in rare Middle Englishat(“ate”) besides more usualet.
1805,Maximilien de Béthune duc de Sully,Memoirs of Maximillian de Bethune, Duke of Sully, Prime Minister of Henry the Great[…][3], volume IV, page171:
I have a very good appetite, haveate some excellent melons, and they have served me up some quails, the fattest and tenderest I have everate.
As soon as all hadate, and the elder ones paid, the carriage was ordered;[…]
1929, Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch,Nicky-Nan, Reservist[4], page27:
“Haven'tate all the eggs, I hope? For I be hungry as a hunter[…]
2013 January 11 [1997], David Bell, Gill Valentine,Consuming Geographies: We Are Where We Eat[5], Routledge,→ISBN, page140:
So I'd haveate when me Dad hadate, sort of thing, I think, you know when he come home from work, I'd have waited for him, I wouldn't have said I wanted mine at four o'clock[…]
Rina, A. Dj.; Kabba, John Lado B. (2011), “ate”, inKamus Bahasa Lamboya, Kabupaten Sumba Bakat [Dictionary of Lamboya Language, West Sumba Regency], Waikabubak: Dinas Kebudayaan dan Pariwisata, Kabupaten Sumba Bakat, page 6
Blust, Robert; Trussel, Stephen; et al. (2023) “*qaCay”, in the CLDF dataset fromThe Austronesian Comparative Dictionary (2010–),→DOI
The interjection was originally restricted to childish language, but it is now used more generally in colloquial speech.[1] TheVLKK recommends against using it in official communication.[2]
^Ross, Malcolm D.; Pawley, Andrew; Osmond, Meredith (2016),The lexicon of Proto-Oceanic, volumes 5: People, body and mind, Canberra: Australian National University,→ISBN, pages189-91
Chan-Yap, Gloria (1980), “Hokkien Chinese borrowings in Tagalog”, inPacific Linguistics, volume B, number71 (PDF), Canberra, A.C.T. 2600.: The Australian National University,page141
Manuel, E. Arsenio (1948),Chinese elements in the Tagalog language: with some indication of Chinese influence on other Philippine languages and cultures and an excursion into Austronesian linguistics, Manila: Filipiniana Publications,page14
Douglas, Carstairs (1873), “ché”, inChinese-English Dictionary of the Vernacular or Spoken Language of Amoy, With the Principal Variations of the Chang-chew and Chin-chew Dialects. (overall work in Hokkien and English), London: Trübner & Co.,page30;New Edition, With Corrections by the Author.,Thomas Barclay,Lîm Iàn-sîn林燕臣, London: Publishing Office of the Presbyterian Church of England,1899,page30
Douglas, Carstairs (1873), “chí”, inChinese-English Dictionary of the Vernacular or Spoken Language of Amoy, With the Principal Variations of the Chang-chew and Chin-chew Dialects. (overall work in Hokkien and English), London: Trübner & Co.,page38;New Edition, With Corrections by the Author.,Thomas Barclay,Lîm Iàn-sîn林燕臣, London: Publishing Office of the Presbyterian Church of England,1899,page38
Adams, Douglas Q. (2013), “ate”, inA Dictionary of Tocharian B: Revised and Greatly Enlarged (Leiden Studies in Indo-European;10), Amsterdam, New York: Rodopi,→ISBN,page10
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