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Mal

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Mal1 time, occasion

Pronunciation

Forms

Mal n (genitive Males or Mals, plural Male or Mal)[1]

Etymology

The noun meaning “time” is inherited from Middle High German māl, inherited from Old High German māl (“point in time”), inherited from Proto-West Germanic *māl, inherited from Proto-Germanic *mēlą.[2][1][3] The same word is Gothic 𐌼𐌴𐌻 (mel, “time, hour”), Old Norse mál (“time, meal”), Old English mǣl (“measure, occasion, meal”) and Old Frisian mēl (“meal”).[2][3] It is the same word as Mahl “meal”, originally “appointed time”, which is now distinguished only in spelling, and as English meal.[3][4][5]

Kluge, Pfeifer and the Duden derive it from the root Proto-Indo-European *mē- (“to measure”), so that it first meant “something staked out, measured”; the sense “point in time” grew from “point in space”.[2][3][4] The root is also found in Latin mētior (“to measure”) and Old Church Slavonic мѣра (měra, “measure”), and with another suffix in Ancient Greek μέτρον (métron, “measure”) and Lithuanian mẽtas (“time, measure”).[2][3] Kroonen considers the origin disputed: the word may also belong with the noun meaning “spot, mark”.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German māl “point in time, time” is recorded around 1000 in Notker and the glosses, already in phrases such as ze drīn mālen “three times” and nū ze māle “for now”.[6][7][3]

Semantic evolution

Middle High German often used des mâles and ze dem mâle “at that time”, and these phrases gave the adverbs einmal, zumal, dazumal and dermalen, as well as ehemals from Middle High German ē māles.[8][3] In damals, jemals, niemals and abermals (15th century) the ending -mals was added later.[8][3] The use in multiplication comes from phrases like zu wunfczen malen wunfczen “fifteen times fifteen” (15th century), and gave malnehmen “to multiply” in the 18th century.[3] The colloquial adverb mal is short for einmal.[8] Today the noun mostly counts repeated occasions.[4]

Timeline

  • Around 1000 – Old High German māl “time” is used by Notker.[7][3]
  • 15th century – abermals appears, and mal is used in multiplication.[3]
  • 18th century – malnehmen “to multiply” appears.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A time, one occurrence of a repeated event: das erste Mal, zum letzten Mal.[9][1]
  2. An occasion: ein für alle Mal “once and for all”, mit einem Mal “suddenly”, von Mal zu Mal “each time more”.[9][1]

Word family

Mal2 mark, spot

Pronunciation

Forms

Mal n (genitive Males or Mals, plural Male or Mäler)[1]

Etymology

The noun meaning “mark” is inherited from Middle High German māl, inherited from Old High German māl (“spot, mark”), inherited from Proto-Germanic *mēlą (“spot, mark”).[2][1][5] The same word is Old Saxon hōƀidmāl (“image of a head”), Old Norse mál (“goal”), Old English mǣl (“mark”) and Middle Dutch mael (“sign, mark, stigma”).[2][5] Kluge takes it as a formation with a lengthened vowel to a root of colour, Proto-Indo-European *mel-, found in Sanskrit मल (mála, “dirt”), Ancient Greek μέλας (mélas, “black”) and Lithuanian mė́lynas (“blue”); the verb malen belongs here too.[2][1]

A separate noun, Old High German meil (“spot, stain, sin”), Middle High German meil, related to Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌹𐌻 (mail, “wrinkle”) and to the English mole (“birthmark”), merged with it.[10][4][1] The EWA shows that ⟨meil⟩ was an inherited word, not taken from Latin macula, and that it disappeared from the written language in Early New High German, surviving only in Upper German dialects.[10] Kluge and Wiktionary see ⟨māl⟩ as the main source and ⟨meil⟩ as an influence on some senses,[2][1] whereas Paul and the Duden treat the modern word as ⟨meil⟩ merged with ⟨māl⟩.[8][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German māl “spot, mark” is recorded from the 10th century.[2][7] Its compounds līchmāl “mark on the body” and anamāli “stigma, scar” are found in glosses,[11] and meil “spot, blemish, sin” appears in glosses from the beginning of the 9th century.[10]

Semantic evolution

Paul lists first a spot on the body, inborn or acquired, as in Muttermal (16th century), Wundmal and Brandmal;[8][4] Luther has the doubled Malzeichen for the stigmata in Galatians 6:17.[8][4] From this came a sign set up for recognition or memory, as when Luther's Jacob richtete ein Mal auf über ihrem Grabe, and the compounds Denkmal, Grabmal, Ehrenmal and Mahnmal (20th century).[8][4] The most abstract is Merkmal (17th century).[8][4] The formula Ziel und Mal led to the sporting sense “marker, base”, recorded in 1683.[8] English took denkmal in 1877.[12]

Timeline

  • Early 9th century – Old High German meil “spot” appears in glosses.[10]
  • 10th century – Old High German māl “mark” is recorded.[2]
  • 16th century – Muttermal “birthmark” appears.[4][13]
  • 17th century – Merkmal appears.[4]
  • 1683 – Mal is used for a marker in a contest.[8]
  • 1877 – English denkmal is recorded.[12]
  • 20th century – Mahnmal “memorial” appears.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A mark on the body, such as a birthmark or a scar.[1][8]
  2. (chiefly in compounds) A sign set up in the landscape, a boundary stone or a memorial.[1][8]
  3. (ball games) A base.[1][8]

Word family

  • Denkmal
  • Grabmal
  • Mahnmal
  • Ehrenmal
  • Merkmal
  • Muttermal
  • Wundmal
  • Brandmal
  • Malzeichen
  • Mahl
  • messen
  • Maß
  • malen
  • Makel
  • English meal
  • English mole

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 595
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 529
  5. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  6. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 213
  7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  9. ^ a b Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  10. ^ a b c d Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 6, 234
  11. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 12, 1493
  12. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
  13. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de