æmete

Forms

ǣmete f (weak n-stem; genitive singular ǣmetan, nominative plural ǣmetan)^[1] Also ǣmette, ǣmytte.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *āmaitijā.^[1] The West Germanic word is also Old High German āmeiza (whence German Ameise) and Middle Low German āmete.^[3][4][5]

Holthausen, Orel and Köbler explain it as a formation with the prefix ā- (“off, away”) on the verb Proto-Germanic *maitaną (“to cut, hew”) (Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (maitan), Old High German meizan, Old Norse meita), so that the ant is "the one that cuts off".^[3][4][5] Orel compares the Slavic word for the moth, named from a verb "to grind".^[4] Köbler takes the root to be Proto-Indo-European *mai- (“to hew, cut”) (Pokorny 697), and Etymonline follows the same analysis.^[5][6] Wiktionary calls the origin uncertain: besides the prefix with the verb for cutting it allows a first part meaning "larva", or a loan from a substrate language, comparing Ancient Greek μίδας (mídas, “an insect that destroys grain”), a word Holthausen also cites.^[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is a remedy for earache in Bald's Leechbook (Royal 12 D. xvii, mid-tenth century): genim æmetan ægru, getrifula, wring on eare “take ants' eggs, crush them, squeeze them into the ear”.^[7][8][2]

Semantic evolution

In the Leechbook, ants and their eggs are ingredients of remedies.^[2] The glossaries use the word for Latin “formica”, and one of them, oddly, for “chameleon”.^[9] In narrative prose it stands for great numbers, as in swa þicce hie aweollon swa æmettan “they swarmed as thick as ants”.^[9]

The word continued as Middle English ampte, which Etymonline says was shortened around 1500 to English ant; the fuller form survives as dialect emmet.^[10][6]

Timeline

• s. x med. – æmetan ægru “ants' eggs” in Bald's Leechbook.^[7][8]
• c1300 – Middle English ametene, crawling like ants, in the South English Legendary.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. an ant.^[2][5][1]

Descendants

• Middle English ampte (→ English ant; English emmet; Scots emmot)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 16
3. ^ a b c Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 11
4. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 256
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. ǣmette
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 412
8. ^ a b Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
9. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 16
10. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)