mænan

Forms

mǣnan (weak class 1; third-person singular present mǣneþ, past singular mǣnde, past plural mǣndon)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *mainijan, from Proto-Germanic *mainijaną (“to think, mean”).^[1][2] The verb is shared by Old Frisian mēna, Old Saxon mēnian and Old High German meinen.^[2][3][4]

Kroonen explains it as a causative *moin-eie- and compares Proto-Slavic *měniti (“to think”) and Old Irish mían (“desire”).^[2] Holthausen and Orel compare the same Slavic verb.^[4][3] Köbler places it, with a query, under a Proto-Indo-European noun "intention, opinion".^[5]

Orel derives the sense "to tell, relate" separately, from a Germanic verb "to make common" formed to Proto-Germanic *mainiz (“common”), the adjective behind ġemǣne.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in the Old English Orosius (Tollemache manuscript, s. x¹ or x²/⁴), in the sense "lament": when the head of his enemy was brought to Julius, "he wæs mænende þa dæd mid micle wope", "he was lamenting the deed with much weeping".^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller set out three groups of senses: to mean (to intend a sense, to refer to someone, to have in mind; of things, to signify), to tell of or relate, and to lament, mourn or complain, intransitively or with the thing lamented in the accusative.^[8] The prose of Alfred's circle has both "mean" and "complain": in the Boethius the mind mænst "complains" whenever it lacks something.^[8][7] In Beowulf the verb means "speak of" and "lament": Beowulf's fame mǣned “was told” and hī mǣndon “they mourned” their lord's death.^[9][8] In glosses it renders Latin "lugere", "plangere" and "dolere".^[5]

It lived on as Middle English menen, in the senses "to mean" and "to complain, moan", now English mean.^[10][11]

Timeline

• s. x¹ or x²/⁴ – mænende þa dæd “lamenting the deed” in the Old English Orosius.^[6][7]
• s. x med. – mænst “complain” in the Old English Boethius.^[12][7]
• s. x/xi – Beowulfes mærðo mæned “Beowulf's fame was told” in the Beowulf manuscript.^[13][8]
• s. x ex. – hwæt hi mænaþ “what they mean” of letters in Ælfric's Catholic Homilies I.^[14][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. to mean, intend; to refer to; of things, to signify.^[8][5]
2. to tell of, relate, declare.^[8][9]
3. to lament, mourn; to complain (of something).^[8][1]

Word family

• bemǣnan

Descendants

• Middle English menen (→ English mean)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 348
3. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 255
4. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 211
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. mǣnan
6. ^ 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. 249
7. ^ a b c d Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 659
9. ^ a b 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. mǣnan
10. ^ 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)
11. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ 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. 296
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. 344
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. 407