mæl

Forms

mǣl n (strong a-stem; genitive singular mǣles)^[1] Anglian mēl beside West Saxon mǣl.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *māl, from Proto-Germanic *mēlą (“time, occasion”).^[1][4] The noun is found across Germanic: Gothic 𐌼𐌴𐌻 (mēl, “season, point in time”), Old Norse mál, Old High German māl and Old Frisian mēl, with Dutch maal and German Mal in the modern languages.^[5][1][6]

Kroonen separates three Germanic neuters of this shape: one for a point in time (the source of the "time" and "meal" senses), one for a spot or mark, and one for a measure, made to the root Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- (“to measure”).^[5] He calls the origin of the "time" noun disputed: it may be the same word as the "measure" noun or may start from the sense "spot, point".^[5] Wiktionary, too, takes the senses of the descendants to be a conflation of nouns of different roots, and derives the whole word from the root of measuring.^[1] Köbler instead connects the noun with a root Proto-Indo-European *mel- (“dark, dirty”) (Pokorny 720), the root of the "spot" sense.^[6]

Proto-Germanic /ē/ became /ā/ in Northwest Germanic, which West Saxon fronted to ⟨ǣ⟩, while early Mercian and Old Frisian have ⟨ē⟩.^[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first securely dated records are in the Pastoral Care of King Alfred's time, in the Hatton manuscript of 890×897, where the word is a meal: a man who fasts but keeps what he leaves on mæle “at a meal” to oðrum mæle “for another meal”, so that he may fill his belly again, fasts for himself and not for God.^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller order the senses as a measure, a mark or sign (above all the cross, Cristes mǣl), and a fixed or suitable time, with the meal-time and the meal added in Toller's Supplement.^[9][10] The Parker Chronicle reports for 773 a red Cristes mæl seen in the sky after sunset, and the Old English Bede uses the same phrase for a crucifix.^[9][8] The sense "measure" is rare, mostly in recipes: Bald's Leechbook prescribes wines þrie mel “three measures of wine”.^[9][8]

In verse the word is the appointed time: in Beowulf it means time, occasion, and the alliterating pair sǣl ond mǣl recurs.^[11] As "mark, sign" it ends a group of poetic compounds for patterned swords, hrinġmǣl, wundenmǣl and brogdenmǣl, and it can stand for the sword itself.^[11][9] The dative plural survives as a suffix of manner, early Mercian styċċimēlum “piecemeal” in the Corpus Glossary.^[3]

In Middle English mel kept the sense of a fixed time or occasion, which the MED traces to Old English and compares with Old Norse.^[2] Etymonline records mēl as the taking of food from the late twelfth century, and notes that the sense "time" lives on in piecemeal.^[12]

Timeline

• 890×897 – on mæle “at a meal” in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[7][8]
• s. ix/x – read Cristes mæl, a red cross seen in the sky, in the annal for 773 of the Parker Chronicle.^[13][9][8]
• s. x med. – wines þrie mel “three measures of wine” in Bald's Leechbook.^[14][8]
• s. x/xi – mǣl is mē tō fēran “it is time for me to go” in the Beowulf manuscript.^[15][9]
• late 12th century – Middle English mēl, an occasion of taking food.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. a measure (of a liquid).^[9][16]
2. a mark, sign;^[9][17] Cristes mǣl, the sign of the cross, a crucifix.^[9][17]
3. (poetic) a patterned sword.^[9][11]
4. a fixed or suitable time, occasion, season.^[9][11]
5. the time for eating; a meal.^[10][18]

Word family

• undernmǣl
• dæġmǣl
• fōtmǣl
• cuclermǣl
• hrinġmǣl
• wundenmǣl
• brogdenmǣl
• grǣġmǣl
• styċċemǣlum

Descendants

• Middle English mel (→ English meal; Scots meal)^[1]

Related words

• mǣþ
• ġemǣlan

Usage notes

Bosworth and Toller list beside it a feminine mǣl “talk, conversation” from The Battle of Maldon, a separate noun related to the verb mǣlan “to speak”.^[9] Hogg counts its long vowel among the few cases of a fricative lost before /l/ with lengthening of the vowel in compensation.^[19]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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)
3. ^ a b c Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 239
4. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 150
5. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 362
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. mǣl
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. 499
8. ^ a b c d e f 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 c d e f g h i j k l Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 658
10. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 627
11. ^ a b c d Fulk, R. D.; Bjork, Robert E.; Niles, John D., eds. (2008), Klaeber's Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, 4th ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press (glossary), p. s.v. mǣl
12. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
13. ^ 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. 83
14. ^ 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
15. ^ 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. 344
16. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. mǣl 3
17. ^ a b Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 134
18. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 138
19. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 7.10