muþ

Forms

mūþ m (strong a-stem; genitive singular mūþes, nominative plural mūþas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *munþ, from Proto-Germanic *munþaz (“mouth”).^[1][2] The Proto-Germanic noun is continued in Gothic 𐌼𐌿𐌽𐌸𐍃 (munþs), Old Norse munnr beside muðr, Old Frisian mūth, Old Saxon mūth and Old High German mund.^[2][3]

Kroonen and Orel reconstruct Proto-Indo-European *mn̥t-o- and compare Latin mentum (“chin”) and Middle Welsh mant (“jaw, gums”);^[2][4] Kroonen also considers a root *stment-.^[2][4] Köbler gives the root *ment- (“to chew; mouth”).^[5]

The nasal was lost before the fricative ⟨þ⟩ and the vowel lengthened, a change Old English shares with Old Frisian and Old Saxon: Proto-Germanic ⟨*munþaz⟩ became ⟨*mų̄þ⟩ and then ⟨mūþ⟩, against the ⟨nd⟩ of Old High German.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is recorded from the mid-ninth century: the Vespasian Psalter gloss has Ðes muð awergednisse & bitternisse ful is & facne “whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness and deceit” over the Latin “Cuius os maledictione et amaritudine plenum est, et dolo” of Psalm 9.^[8][9]

Semantic evolution

The word names the mouth as the way in for food, as the organ of speech and, in phrases such as mūþe tō mūþe, the face.^[10][11] It also means any opening: Bosworth and Toller cite the gloss orificium, and the gnomic verses ask for rum recedes muþ, a roomy door, on a hall.^[10] In glosses it renders Latin os, labium and ostium.^[5] Æthelberht's laws use it of the mouth, Alfred's of the opening of a wound.^[12] The MED traces Middle English mouth to this word and to mūþa “mouth of a river”.^[13]

Timeline

• s. ix med. – muð glossing Latin os in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[8][9]
• 890×897 – the ox's mouth that must not be muzzled, in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[14][9]
• s. x² – Ic þurh muþ sprece in Exeter Book Riddle 8.^[1][15]
• s. x ex. – muð in Ælfric's Catholic Homilies I.^[16][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. the mouth, of people and animals.^[10][5]
2. the mouth as the organ of speech.^[10]
3. an opening, an orifice; a door or gate.^[10][5]

Word family

• mūþlēas

Descendants

• Middle English mouth (→ English mouth; English maath; Scots mooth)^[1]

Related words

• ġemȳþe
• mūþa

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 376
3. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 29
4. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 276
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. mūþ
6. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 140
7. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 3.14
8. ^ 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. 329
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c d e Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 702
11. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 643
12. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 151
13. ^ 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. ^ 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
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. 223
16. ^ 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