latten
/ˈlætən/ noun
Forms lattens laton
- noun (archaic or historical) An alloy of copper and tin, similar to bronze, with a sufficient portion of tin to make it a pewter-like color with yellowish tinge (rather than the brownish-gold color of bronze of higher copper content), once used in thin sheets and for domestic utensils and light-duty tools.
- noun Sheet tin; iron plate, covered with tin.
- noun Any metal in thin sheets. “gold latten”
Etymology
From Middle English laten, latun, latoun, from Old French laton, laiton, from Arabic لَاطُون (lāṭūn, “copper, copper alloy”), itself from Proto-Common Turkic *altun (“gold”). See Turkish altın, Old Turkic 𐰞𐱃𐰆𐰣 (altun, “gold”), Karakhanid اَلْتُونْ (altūn, “gold”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A kind of brass hammered into thin sheets, formerly much used for making church utensils, as candlesticks, crosses, etc.; --called also latten brass.
- noun Sheet tin; iron plate, covered with tin; also, any metal in thin sheets; as, gold latten. Black latten, brass in milled sheets, composed of copper and zinc, used by braziers, and for drawing into wire.
Etymology [OE. latoun, laton, OF. laton, F. laiton, prob. fr. OF. late lath, F. latte; -- because made in thin plates; cf. It. latta a sheet of tinned iron, tin plate. F. latte is of German origin. See Lath a thin board.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “latten”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details