May

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English mai,^[2] borrowed from Anglo-Norman mai and mai,^[3][4][5][6] and directly borrowed from Latin Māius, short for Māius mēnsis.^[3][5][4] The Latin name is connected with a deity: the OED and Klein take it as probably from a god's name cognate with that of the goddess Māia and with magnus (“great”),^[3][2] Merriam-Webster and the Oxford Dictionary of English derive it from the goddess,^[6][7] and Etymonline calls that only possible, reconstructing Proto-Indo-European *mag-ya (“she who is great”) from *meg- (“great”).^[5] Weekley calls her the goddess of growth and increase,^[8] and Word Origins identifies her with Maia Majesta, a goddess of fertility and the spring.^[9] Compare Spanish mayo, Portuguese maio, Italian maggio, Dutch mei and German Mai.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The fifth month of the year: in 1110, in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, as on Maies monðe.^[3][4] Texts in Old English also use the Latin Māius, sometimes beside the native Þrīmilce,^[3] the month in which cows can be milked three times a day.^[5][8]

Semantic evolution

Because the month falls at the start of the northern summer, the word gathered ideas of vitality and youth: the OED records such allusions from about 1375,^[3] Chaucer calls May that moder is of monthes glade,^[3] and by before 1586, in Sidney's the May of my yeeres, it could mean one's prime.^[3][6] The season itself was disputed: the Century Dictionary of 1897, quoted by Etymonline, counts May as the last month of spring in Europe and America and the first of summer in Britain.^[5] From the 15th century the word also named the flowers and branches gathered for May Day, then the festivities themselves, and hawthorn blossom, so called for when it blooms;^[3][10][8] this last sense is now usually written may.^[3] Hoad traces the blossom sense through French.^[10] A verb, to take part in May Day festivities or gather flowers in May, follows in 1485.^[3][11] Trevisa (before 1387) explains the name as the month of the great men.^[3] Etymonline adds that May marriages have been thought unlucky since Ovid, and dates May-apple, an American plant, to 1733.^[5] At Cambridge the May was an examination at the end of Easter term, recorded from 1852, and the Mays became the name of the May races by 1879.^[3]

Timeline

• 1110 – the fifth month.^[3][4]
• c. 1375 – with allusion to vitality and exuberance.^[3]
• before 1425 – personified, in Chaucer.^[3]
• 1432 – flowers or foliage gathered for May Day; later a maypole.^[3]
• c. 1450 – hawthorn blossom.^[3]
• 1485 – verb, to take part in May festivities, in Malory.^[3]
• 1515 – the festivities of May Day.^[3]
• before 1586 – one's prime, in Sidney.^[3]
• 1852 – an examination at Cambridge.^[3]
• 1879 – the Mays, the May races at Cambridge.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, with 31 days.^[3][6][12]
2. One's prime; the best or youngest part of life; poetic.^[3][6]
3. The festivities of May Day; now rare.^[3][6]
4. Hawthorn blossom; now usually written may.^[3][6]
5. At Cambridge, an examination formerly held at the end of Easter term; in the plural, the May races.^[3]

Verb

1. To take part in the festivities of May Day or gather flowers in May; archaic, chiefly as maying.^[3][11]

Word family

• May Day
• maypole
• May queen

Related words

• may
• major
• Maia
• April
• June

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
9. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins