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{{about|the tool|the surname|Mattock (surname)}}
{{Redirect|Mattocks|the surname|Mattocks (surname)}}
{{Short description|Hand tool for chopping, digging, and prying}}
{{Infobox tool
|name           = Mattock
|image          = Cutter mattock.jpg
|caption        = A "cutter mattock" combines both [[axe]] and [[adze]] blades.
|other_name     = 
|classification = Digging tool
|types          = 
|used_with      = 
|related        = [[Pickaxe]]
}}

A '''mattock''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|æ|t|ə|k}}) is a [[hand tool]] used for digging, prying, and chopping. Similar to the [[pickaxe]], it has a long handle and a stout head which combines either a vertical [[axe]] blade with a horizontal [[adze]] ('''cutter mattock'''), or a pick and an adze ('''pick mattock'''). A cutter mattock is similar to a [[Pulaski (tool)|Pulaski]] used in fighting fires. It is also commonly known in North America as a "'''grub axe'''".

==Description==
A mattock has a shaft, typically made of wood, which is {{convert|3|-|4|ft|1|abbr=on}} long.<ref name="Cromell">{{cite book |author=Cathy Cromell |year=2010 |title=Composting For Dummies |publisher=[[For Dummies]] |isbn=978-0-470-58161-2 |chapter=Tools of the Trade |pages=15–28 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_taRoN5gElMC&pg=PA24}}</ref> The head consists of two ends, opposite each other and separated by a central eye. A mattock head typically weighs {{convert|3|-|7|lb|abbr=on}}.<ref name="Cromell"/> The form of the head determines the kind and uses of the mattock:<ref name="Birkby"/>

* A ''cutter mattock'' combines the functions of an [[axe]] and [[adze]], with its axe blade oriented vertically and longer adze horizontally.
* A ''pick mattock'' combines the function of a [[pickaxe|pick]] and adze, with a pointed end opposite an adze blade.

Both are used for [[grubbing]] in hard soils and rocky terrain,<ref name="Birkby">{{cite book |author=Robert C. Birkby |year=2006 |title=Lightly on the Land: the SCA Trail-building and Maintenance Manual |edition=2nd |publisher=[[The Mountaineers Books]] |isbn=978-0-89886-848-7 |chapter=Tools |pages=75–102 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xD6ThtJNgLkC&pg=PA86}}</ref> with the pick mattock having the advantage of a superior penetrating tool over the cutter mattock, which excels at cutting roots.

==Uses==
[[File:Mattocking.jpg|thumb|Using the [[adze]] to excavate]]

Mattocks are "the most versatile of [[Tree planting|hand-planting]] tools".<ref name="Wray"/> They can be used to chop into the ground with the adze and pull the soil towards the user, opening a slit to plant into.<ref name="Wray">{{cite book |author=Robert D. Wray |year=2009 |edition=4th |title=Christmas Trees for Pleasure and Profit |publisher=[[Rutgers University Press]] |isbn=978-0-8135-4417-5 |chapter=The planting job |pages=75–92 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rBbZtqi6RaEC&pg=PA82}}</ref> They can also be used to dig holes for planting into, and are particularly useful where there is a thick layer of matted [[sod]].<ref name="Wray"/> The use of a mattock can be tiring because of the effort needed to drive the blade into the ground, and the amount of bending and stooping involved.<ref name="Wray"/>

The adze of a mattock is useful for digging or [[Hoe (tool)|hoeing]], especially in hard soil.<ref name="Cromell"/>

Cutter mattocks ({{langx|sw|jembe-shoka}}) are used in rural Africa for removing [[Tree stump|stumps]] from fields, including unwanted [[banana]] [[Basal shoot|suckers]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Björn Mothander, Finn Kjærby & Kjell J. Havnevik |url=http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn%3Anbn%3Ase%3Anai%3Adiva-379 |title=Farm Implements for Small-scale Farmers in Tanzania |publisher=[[Nordic Africa Institute]] |year=1989 |isbn=978-91-7106-290-1 |pages=22–72 |chapter=Types of farm implements used in Tanzania |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0N0mJ8cvM2gC&pg=PA41}}</ref>

==History==

As a simple but effective tool, mattocks have a long history. Their shape was already established by the [[Bronze Age]] in [[Asia Minor]] and [[ancient Greece]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Isabelle Kelly Raubitschek |year=1998 |title=The Metal Objects (1952-1989) |series=Volume 7 of Isthmia: Excavations by the University of Chicago, Under the Auspices of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens |publisher=[[American School of Classical Studies at Athens]] |isbn=978-0-87661-937-7 |chapter=Tools |pages=119–130 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eGHu_Ki7QzoC&pg=PA119}}</ref> According to [[Sumerian religion|Sumerian mythology]], the mattock was invented by the god [[Enlil]].<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Hooke | first1 = S. H. | authorlink1 = S. H. Hooke | title = Middle Eastern Mythology | publisher = [[Dover Publications]] | year = 2004 | isbn = 978-0486435510}}</ref> Mattocks ({{langx|el|μάκελλα}}) are the most commonly depicted tool in [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] manuscripts of [[Hesiod]]'s ''[[Works and Days]]''.<ref>{{cite book |editor=George Fletcher Bass & James W. Allan |year=2004 |title=Serçe Limani: an Eleventh-century Shipwreck, Volume 2 |series=Volume 4 of The Nautical archaeology series |publisher=[[Texas A&M University Press]] |isbn=978-0-89096-947-2 |chapter=Tools |author=Frederick M. Hocker |pages=297–328 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E6ZJ-05aC-sC&pg=PA315}}</ref>

Mattocks made from [[antler]]s first appear in the [[British Isles]] in the Late [[Mesolithic]]. They were probably used chiefly for digging, and may have been related to the rise of [[agriculture]].<ref>{{cite book |author=I. J. Thorpe |year=1996 |title=The Origins of Agriculture in Europe |series=Material Cultures Series |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-415-08009-5 |chapter=The introduction of farming to Britain and Ireland |pages=94–118 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XdEOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA103}}</ref> Mattocks made of [[Baleen|whalebone]] were used for tasks including [[flensing]] – stripping [[blubber]] from the carcass of a [[whale]] – by the [[broch]] people of [[Scotland]] and by the [[Inuit]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Vicki Ellen Szabo |year=1997 |chapter=The use of whales in early Medieval Britain |pages=137–158 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=___Q9caeqdoC&pg=PA154 |title=Studies in Medieval History |series=Volume 9 of The Haskins Society Journal |editor=C. P. Lewis |publisher=[[Boydell Press]] |isbn=978-0-85115-831-0}}</ref>

==Etymology==
{{wiktionary|mattock}}
The word ''[[:wikt:mattock|mattock]]'' is of unclear origin; one theory traces it from Proto-Germanic, from Proto-Indo-European. There are no clear [[cognate]]s in other [[Germanic languages]], and similar words in various [[Celtic languages]] are [[Loanword|borrowings]] from the English (e.g. {{langx|cy|matog}}, {{langx|ga|matóg}}, {{langx|gd|màdog}}).<ref name="OED">{{OED|Mattock}}</ref> However, there are proposed cognates in Old High German and Middle High German, and more speculatively with words in [[Balto-Slavic languages]], including [[Old Church Slavonic]] ''{{lang|cu|motyga}}'' and [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]] ''{{lang|lt|matikas}}'',<ref name="OED"/> and even Sanskrit. It may be cognate to or derived from the unattested [[Vulgar Latin]] ''{{lang|la|matteūca}}'', meaning [[Club (weapon)|club or cudgel]]. The ''[[New English Dictionary]]'' of 1906 interpreted ''mattock'' as a [[diminutive]], but there is no root to derive it from, and no [[semantics|semantic]] reason for the diminutive formation.<ref name="OED"/> Forms such as ''mathooke'', ''motthook'' and ''mathook'' were produced by [[folk etymology]]. Although used to prepare whale blubber, which the Inuit call "''mattaq''", no such connection is known. 

While the noun ''mattock'' is attested from [[Old English]] onwards, the [[transitive verb]] "to mattock" or "to mattock up" first appeared in the mid-17th century.<ref name="OED"/>

==See also==
{{Commons category|Mattocks}}
* [[Dolabra]]
* [[Ice axe]]
* [[Pickaxe]]
* [[Pottiputki]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

{{Forestry tools}}
{{Garden tools}}

[[Category:Mechanical hand tools]]
[[Category:Gardening tools]]
[[Category:Forestry tools]]