No one is quite sure where pet comes from. It’s attested first in the early 1500’s, from the dialects of Scotland and northern England. Given that, it’s not impossible that it’s related to Gaelic pet, “part, piece, bit, small”, especially since that Celtic word is the source of Latin pitinnus, from which we get petit and petty. If so, it would be one of the very few loan words from Celtic languages into English.

The energy of pet is of a connective character, arising from a location and setting off down a path. As such it’s a good fit for the motion of petting (a meaning which arose in the early 19th century), but I’m at a loss to explain the connection with the sense of “smallness” found in Celtic, Latin, and English.

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