"a salt formed of nitric acid and a base," 1794, from French nitrate (1787) or Modern Latin nitratum, or formed in English from nitre + -ate (3). Related: Nitrates.
Entries linking to nitrate
nitre n.
c. 1400, "native sodium carbonate" (a sense now obsolete), from Old French nitre (13c.), from Latin nitrum, from Greek nitron, which is possibly of Eastern origin (compare Hebrew nether "carbonate of soda;" Egyptian ntr). Originally a word for native soda, but also associated since the Middle Ages with saltpeter (potassium nitrate) for obscure reasons; this became the predominant sense by late 16c.
-ate 3
in chemistry, word-forming element used to form the names of salts from acids in -ic; from Latin -atus, -atum, suffix used in forming adjectives and thence nouns; identical with -ate (1).
The substance formed, for example, by the action of acetic acid (vinegar) on lead was described in the 18th century as plumbum acetatum, i.e. acetated lead. Acetatum was then taken as a noun meaning "the acetated (product)," i.e. acetate. [W.E. Flood, "The Origins of Chemical Names," London, 1963]