meist

Forms

meist^[1] A by-form meinst was common in Upper and Central German sources for several centuries, into the 17th; the Carolina of 1533 has die meinste beschwerung.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German meist, inherited from Old High German meist, inherited from Proto-Germanic *maistaz (“most”).^[3][4][1] The same superlative is Old Saxon mēst, Old Norse mestr, Old English mǣst and Old Frisian māst, and it continues in Dutch meest, English most and Swedish mest.^[3][4][5]

It was formed with the superlative suffix *-istaz from the same base as the comparative mehr; together they serve as the comparison of viel.^[3][4][6] Pfeifer and Wahrig trace the base to a root Proto-Indo-European *mē- (“big, considerable”), in its zero grade.^[4][7] The Grimms explain that a consonant at the end of the root was lost, so that the comparative and superlative developed separately and hardly look related any longer; this is why a new superlative mehrst could be formed.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pfeifer dates the Old High German adjective meisto to the 8th century and the adverb meist to the 8th or 9th; the adverb appears in glosses of the early 9th century, in Otfrid and in Notker, meaning “most, most of all, especially”.^[4][8][9] Notker also uses meist as a noun, “the greatest amount”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

In Middle High German meist meant “greatest, most” and also “mightiest, strongest”;^[11][12] das meiste was the greater part or the majority, and the adverb ranged over “mostly, at most, as much as possible”.^[11][12] Early New High German also used it for “at most, no more than” and for “often”.^[13] Adelung records am meisten and notes that meist for “usually” belonged to everyday speech, while the biblical aufs meiste “at the most” was no longer standard.^[14]

Today the adverb meist “usually” stands beside meistens, and the pronoun die meisten means the majority.^[15]

Timeline

• 8th century – Old High German meisto “most” is recorded.^[4][3]
• Early 9th century – The adverb meist appears in glosses.^[8]
• 1060–1065 – Middle High German meiste is found in Williram's paraphrase of the Song of Songs.^[12]
• 1533 – The Carolina uses the by-form meinst.^[2]

Meanings

Adverb

1. usually, in most cases, mostly: Am Wochenende schläft sie meist lange.^[15][1]

Pronoun

1. (meist…) The greatest number or amount of something: Wer hat die meisten Punkte?^[15]
2. (meist…) The larger part, the majority: die meisten Besucher, das meiste davon.^[15]
3. (am meisten) most, to the greatest degree; also forming superlatives: das am meisten gelesene Buch.^[15]

Word family

• meistens
• allermeist
• zumeist
• meistenteils

Related words

• mehr
• viel

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 12, 1947
3. ^ a b c d Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 613
4. ^ a b c d e f Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
5. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
6. ^ Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 546
7. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
9. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 219
10. ^ Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch (1952–), founded by Elisabeth Karg-Gasterstädt and Theodor Frings, Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag / De Gruyter; online awb.saw-leipzig.de, p. 6, 378
11. ^ a b Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 1, 2084
12. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
13. ^ Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
14. ^ Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf
15. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag