min

min¹ my

Pronunciation

• /miːn/^[1]

Forms

mīn (strong)^[1]

Etymology

The word for “my” is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *mīn, from Proto-Germanic *mīnaz (“my”).^[1][2] Its cognates are Gothic 𐌼𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃 (meins), Old Norse mínn, Old Frisian mīn, Old Saxon mīn and Old High German mīn.^[2][3]

Kroonen calls it the possessive belonging to *eka (“I”), parallel to *þīnaz (“thy”) and *sīnaz (“his own”).^[2] Orel explains it as an adjective with an n-suffix made to a secondary stem or locative of the Indo-European pronoun of the first person, Proto-Indo-European *me.^[3] Holthausen and Köbler likewise connect it with mē and mec.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The possessive is in the will of the reeve Abba, a Kentish charter of 833×839 surviving in a contemporary single sheet.^[6] Abba begins by declaring hu min willa is “what my will is”, and grants land “minra swæstarsuna swælcum se hit geðian wile” (“to whichever of my sisters' sons will prosper”).^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

Mīn was used with a noun, as a predicate (Eall eorþe ys min “all the earth is mine”) and as a noun for what is one's own or one's people.^[8] The same form served as the genitive of iċ, “of me”, with verbs that take the genitive: Miltsa min “have mercy on me” in the Paris Psalter.^[8][9] In glosses it renders Latin “meus”.^[5]

Middle English min gave English mine.^[10] From about 1200 the reduced form English my was used before consonants.^[10] From the thirteenth century my replaced mine before an expressed noun.^[10]

Timeline

• 833×839 – min willa “my will” in Abba's will, contemporary single sheet.^[6][7]
• s. ix med. – weg minne glossing “uiam meam” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[11][7]
• 890×897 – Sunu min, ongiet minne wisdom “my son, understand my wisdom” in the Pastoral Care.^[12][7]
• c. 1200 – the reduced form mi, now my, before consonants.^[10]

Meanings

Determiner

1. my, belonging to me.^[8][5]
2. as a predicate or noun: mine, what is mine.^[8][13]

Pronoun

1. genitive of ic: of me.^[8][9]

Descendants

• Middle English min (→ English my; English mine; Scots mine)^[1]

min² small

Pronunciation

• /min/^[1]

Forms

min^[1]

Etymology

The word for “small” is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *minni, from Proto-Germanic *minniz (“less”).^[1][14] Orel lists it with the comparatives Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌽𐍃 (mins, “less”), Old Norse minnr, Old Frisian min and Old High German min, and explains the ⟨nn⟩ from ⟨nw⟩.^[14] He compares Latin minor (“smaller”), minuō (“to lessen”), Ancient Greek μινύθω (minúthō, “to lessen”) and Ancient Greek μείων (meíōn, “smaller”).^[14]

Kroonen instead puts the variant minn with Dutch min (“small, slight”) under an adjective *minna- (“small”), derived from a nu-present of the root Proto-Indo-European *meyH- (“to diminish”), related to the comparative.^[2] Bosworth and Toller note that the other Germanic languages have only the comparative and superlative.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adjective is recorded in the Exeter Book (s. x²), in Guthlac: Hwilum cyrdon eft minne mansceaþan on mennisc hiw “at times the vile criminals turned back into human form”.^[8][15] The sense there is “mean, vile”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller give two senses: “small”, from a verse of the Paris Psalter where the moon should not grow dim at night, and “mean, vile”, from Guthlac and a charm against the harm of minra wihta “vile creatures”.^[8][16] Köbler glosses it “evil, bad, harmful”.^[17] Wiktionary lists the derivatives mindōm and minsian.^[1]

Timeline

• s. x² – minne mansceaþan “vile criminals” in Guthlac in the Exeter Book.^[15][8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. small.^[8]
2. mean, vile, bad.^[8][17]

Word family

• mindōm
• minsian
• minlīċ