Etymologically
Log in

mos

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Old English word mos

mos1 moss, bog

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1000–1050 charter S 801
Inherited from
Proto-West Germanic *mos
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *musą

Pronunciation

Forms

mos n[1]

Etymology

The word for bog and moss is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *mos, from Proto-Germanic *musą (“moss, bog”).[1][2] Its relatives are Old Norse mosi (“moss; bog”), Old High German mos (“moss; swamp”), Middle Low German mos and Dutch mos.[2][3][4]

Kroonen counts it among the words found only in the languages of Europe and compares Lithuanian mùsos (“mould”) and Russian мох (mox, “moss”);[2][3][4] Orel and Holthausen add Latin muscus (“moss”).[2][3][4] Köbler places it under a root Proto-Indo-European *mews- (“damp”).[5] Holthausen relates it to mēos (“moss”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is found in charter bounds, and the oldest dated manuscript is the single sheet of King Edgar's grant of Madeley, Staffordshire, dated 975 and copied in the first half of the eleventh century, though some scholars hold it to be contemporary: the bounds run ondlong broces on hedenan mos of hedenan mose "along the brook to Hedena's bog, from Hedena's bog".[6][7]

Semantic evolution

In the charters the word names a bog or marsh: Bosworth–Toller quotes In ðæt micle mos "into the great bog".[8] Clark Hall and Sweet gloss it "bog, marsh, moor", and Köbler and Kroonen also give "moss".[9][10][5][2] The moss plant itself was usually mēos, according to Etymonline.[11] The compound mossetna gemǣre "the boundary of the moss-dwellers" appears in a charter dated 851, preserved in a later copy.[12][8]

The word continued as Middle English mos, now English moss;[13][11] MED derives the Middle English word from Old English mos together with Old Norse and Medieval Latin mossa.[13][11] Bosworth–Toller notes the northern English and Scots use of moss for a bog.[8]

Timeline

  • s. xi¹ – on hedenan mos in the bounds of King Edgar's charter of 975 for Madeley.[6][7]
  • s. xi¹ – to mos setnæ gemære in a copy of charter S 1370 (961×972).[14][7]
  • s. xi² – to mos setena gemære in a copy of a charter dated 851.[12][7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. a bog, marsh.[8][9][10]
  2. moss.[5][2]

Descendants

  • Middle English mos (→ English moss; Scots mos)[1]

mos2 food

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
950–1000 Vercelli Book, Exeter Book
Inherited from
Proto-West Germanic *mōs
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *mōsą
Etymology tree of mos2
inherited borrowed derived
Proto-West Germanic *mōs
Dutch moes
Old English mōs

Pronunciation

Forms

mōs n (strong a-stem; genitive singular mōses)[1]

Etymology

The word for food is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *mōs, from Proto-Germanic *mōsą (“food”).[1][15] It is the same noun as Old Frisian mōs, Old Saxon mōs, Old High German muos (German Mus) and Middle Dutch moes.[15][4][16]

Kroonen explains it as a formation in *-to- closely related to Proto-Germanic *mati- (“food”), the source of mete;[15] German Gemüse (“vegetables”) is a derivative.[15] Holthausen also connects it with the same word and mæst (“mast”).[4] Köbler traces it to a root Proto-Indo-European *mad- (“wet, fat”).[16]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first found in two poetic manuscripts of the second half of the tenth century: in the Vercelli Book, Andreas tells of the Mermedonians that it was their custom to make every stranger who came to the island him to mose "into food for themselves".[17][7][18] In the Exeter Book Christ reproaches the damned that they refused hrægles nacedum, moses meteleasum "clothing to the naked, food to the starving".[19][7][8]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth–Toller's instances are almost all from verse (Andreas, Christ, Guthlac, Solomon and Saturn, the Metrical Psalms) and in glosses, where mōs renders Latin esca and edulium.[8] In Guthlac the demons taunt the saint: Ne þec mon hider mose fedeð "no one will feed you with food here".[19][7]

Wiktionary derives English mush from the Middle English forms mos and mose of this word.[1] Etymonline instead takes mush, first recorded in the 1670s in the American colonies, as a variant of mash.[11]

Timeline

  • s. x² – him to mose in Andreas (Vercelli Book).[17][7]
  • s. x² – moses meteleasum in Christ and mose fedeð in Guthlac (Exeter Book).[19][7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. food, nourishment, a meal.[8][16][18]

Descendants

  • Middle English mos, mose (→ English mush; Scots moosh)[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 379
  3. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 277
  4. ^ a b c d e f Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 226
  5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. mos
  6. ^ a b 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 801
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 699
  9. ^ a b Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 241
  10. ^ a b Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 142
  11. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  12. ^ a b 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 201
  13. ^ 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)
  14. ^ 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 1370
  15. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 372
  16. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. mōs
  17. ^ 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. 704
  18. ^ a b North, Richard; Bintley, Michael D. J., eds. (2016), Andreas: An Edition, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press (glossary), p. s.v. mōs
  19. ^ a b c 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. 223

Related etymologies

  • stan · also from Proto-West Germanic
  • sittan · also from Proto-West Germanic
  • healdan · also from Proto-West Germanic
  • hrycg · also from Proto-West Germanic
  • an · also from Proto-West Germanic
  • open · also from Proto-West Germanic
  • eald · also from Proto-West Germanic
  • on · also from Proto-West Germanic
Cite this entry

“Mos.” Etymologically, 16 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ang/mos. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·