mid

Forms

mid^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *midi, from Proto-Germanic *midi (“with”).^[1][2] The preposition is shared by the old Germanic languages: Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌸 (miþ), Old Norse með, Old Frisian mith, Old Saxon mid and Old High German mit.^[3][4][2] The Old High German form beside the disyllabic miti is explained either as a new formation or as the loss of a final vowel after a short syllable in an unstressed word.^[5]

Holthausen compares Ancient Greek μετά (metá, “with, among, between”), and Köbler traces the Germanic word to Proto-Indo-European *medʰi- (“with”), Pokorny's root.^[3][4] Wiktionary's reconstruction page gives the root as Proto-Indo-European *meth₂, a form of *me (“with”), and adds Sanskrit स्मत् (smat, “together, at the same time”).^[1]

The early glosses and the Northumbrian texts write it with a final fricative, ⟨mið⟩; ⟨mit⟩ and ⟨miþ⟩ are also found.^[6][7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest record is in the Épinal Glossary, of the late seventh or early eighth century, where Latin “pictus acu” is glossed mið naeðlae asiuuid “sewn with a needle”; the Erfurt Glossary has mid nedlæ.^[8][9][10] The Corpus Glossary of the early ninth century repeats the gloss as mið nethle asiowid.^[11][10] The first instrument here, the needle, is one of the uses that Bosworth and Toller set out under the preposition.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller find the idea of being together at the root of all its meanings: it can come close to “and” (Se feond mid his geferum eallum “the fiend with all his companions”), then means in company with, among, by means of, in a manner, and at a time.^[6] It takes the dative or instrumental in West Saxon, and also the accusative, which Clark Hall reports only from Anglian texts.^[12] In Beowulf it is used with the accusative and the dative for persons, with the dative for things, manner and instrument, and can follow its noun with stress.^[13] With pronouns it made conjunctions: mid þām þe and mid þȳ “when, while”, mid þām þæt “because”.^[12][14] The laws use it for the oath-helpers by whom a man clears himself.^[7]

Later the preposition Middle English mid was gradually replaced by English with (Old English wiþ already stood for it now and then), and it is rare after 1400.^[15] It survives in midwife, literally “with-woman”.^[16][17]

Timeline

• s. vii ex. – mið naeðlae asiuuid “sewn with a needle” in the Épinal Glossary.^[8][9][10]
• s. ix¹ – mid minum gemeccan “with my wife” in a will of 833×839, whose earliest manuscript dates from the first half of the ninth century.^[18][10]
• s. ix med. – the Vespasian Psalter gloss has both mid and mið.^[19][10]
• a1121 – mid as an adverb, “along with them”, in the Peterborough Chronicle.^[15]

Meanings

Preposition

1. with, together with, almost “and”.^[6][4]
2. in company with, along with; among (mid yldum “among men”).^[6][13]
3. through, by means of (an instrument).^[12][13]
4. in a manner: mid unryhte “unjustly”.^[14]
5. at (a time); during.^[12][3]

Adverb

1. at the same time, together; likewise.^[12][20]

Word family

• midwist
• midsīþian
• þǣrmid
• mid þȳ

Descendants

• Middle English mid^[1]

Usage notes

The adjective midd “middle” is a separate word.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
3. ^ a b c Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 221
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. mid 2
5. ^ Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de
6. ^ a b c d e Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 684
7. ^ a b Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 146
8. ^ a b Pheifer, J. D. (1974), Old English Glosses in the Épinal-Erfurt Glossary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 131
9. ^ 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. 610
10. ^ a b c d e Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
11. ^ 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. 76
12. ^ a b c d e f Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 236
13. ^ a b c 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. mid
14. ^ a b Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 139
15. ^ 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)
16. ^ Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 419
17. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
18. ^ The Electronic Sawyer: Online Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Charters, revised ed. by S. E. Kelly and R. Rushforth, King's College London / University of Cambridge, esawyer.lib.cam.ac.uk, p. S 1482
19. ^ 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. 329
20. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. mid 1