mis-

Forms

mis-^[1] Also miss-, mist- and misse-.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *missa-, from Proto-Germanic *missa- (“mis-, badly, wrongly”).^[1] The prefix is shared by the other Germanic languages: Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐍃𐍃𐌰- (missa-), Old Norse mis-, Old Frisian mis-, Old Saxon mis- and Old High German missa-, beside missi-.^[3][4][5] It comes from the adjective *missaz (“wrong; divergent”), seen in Old Norse ýmiss (“different, alternating”) and Old High German missi (“different, various”).^[1][6]

Orel explains the adjective as a formation in *-to- from Proto-Indo-European *meit- (“to change”), the root of Latin mūtō (“to change”);^[6] Wiktionary reconstructs *mith₂-tó-s from *meyth₂- (“to change, exchange”), and Köbler the same root.^[1][3] The double s is regular: the cluster of PIE *mit-to- became ss in Germanic, as in Latin; compare Old Irish mí- beside mis-.^[7] Holthausen also compares the Old Irish prefix.^[4] Etymonline gives the root sense as “difference, change”, the prefix meaning “in a changed manner”.^[8] Wiktionary relates it to the verb missan “to miss”.^[1]

Unlike many prefixes, mis- has the same form whether stressed or unstressed, in nouns and verbs alike.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The prefix is recorded only in compounds, and three of them appear in the Pastoral Care in the Hatton manuscript, written 890×897: misdǣd “misdeed” (æfter hira misdædum “after their misdeeds”), mislīc “various” (mid mislicum manungum “with various admonitions”) and misfaran “go astray” (misfarað ða hieremenn “the hearers go astray”).^[10][11]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller describe it as a prefix of defect and imperfection, as in misdǣd “evil deed, offence”.^[2] Wiktionary gives two senses, “badly, wrongly” and “lack, failure”.^[1] In the laws it can stand where for- or ofer- stand in other words.^[12] The older sense of difference survives in mislīc “unlike, diverse, various” and the adverb mislīce “in different ways”, like Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐍃𐍃𐌰𐌻𐌴𐌹𐌺𐍃 (missaleiks).^[13] Etymonline notes that the prefix made new words in Old English, such as mislǣran “to teach wrongly”, and was almost a separate word in Old and early Middle English.^[8]

Middle English mis- continued it, joined by Old French mes- and probably by Old Norse.^[14] From the fourteenth to the sixteenth century it was also used as an intensive before words already negative, as in misdoubt.^[8]

Timeline

• 890×897 – misdǣd, mislīc and misfaran in the Pastoral Care.^[10][11]
• s. x ex. – misdǣd in Ælfric's Catholic Homilies I.^[15][11]
• 14th–16th centuries – intensive use in Middle and early Modern English.^[8]

Meanings

Prefix

1. bad, badly, wrong, wrongly; denoting a fault or defect.^[2][1]
2. lack or failure.^[1]
3. different, diverse (in mislīc and mislīce).^[13]

Word family

• misdǣd
• mislīċ
• mislīċe
• mislīċnes
• misfaran
• mislǣran
• misbyrd

Descendants

• Middle English mys- (→ English mis-; Scots mis-)^[1]

Related words

• missan

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 690
3. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. mis-
4. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 223
5. ^ Lehmann, Winfred P. (1986), A Gothic Etymological Dictionary, based on the third edition of Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache by Sigmund Feist, Leiden: Brill, p. 285
6. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 272
7. ^ Fulk, R. D. (2018), A Comparative Grammar of the Early Germanic Languages, Studies in Germanic Linguistics 3, Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins, p. § 6.8
8. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 2.88
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b c Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
12. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 148
13. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 691
14. ^ 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)
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. 407