English has two main words spelled mail: the post, from Old French male “bag”, of Germanic origin, and the armour, from Old French maille, from Latin macula.[1][2][3]
Pronunciation
- IPA: /meɪl/[4]
mail1 post
Etymology
The post is inherited from Middle English male (“travelling bag”),[2][5] borrowed from Old French male (“wallet, bag, bundle”) (French malle “trunk”),[6][2][3] from Frankish *malha or another Germanic source,[6][2] from Proto-Germanic *malhō-, the source also of Old High German malaha “wallet, bag” and Middle Dutch māle “bag”,[6][2][5] from Proto-Indo-European *molko- (“skin, bag”).[6] Dutch maal “mailbag” is related.[2][1]
Earliest recorded meaning
A travelling bag: probably before 1200, in Layamon's Brut, according to Barnhart,[2] and about 1200 in Etymonline, a sense now obsolete.[6] In the United States and Scotland mails is still a word for baggage.[1]
Semantic evolution
A bag of letters is from 1654 in Barnhart,[2] perhaps through phrases such as a mail of letters, and the person or vehicle that carries the post from the 1650s.[6] The letters and parcels themselves followed in the 1680s, and the public postal system in the 1690s.[6] From “an item delivered” come newspaper titles such as the Daily Mail, a use dating from 1789.[1][6] In 19th-century England mail was letters going abroad, while home dispatches were post,[6] and British usage still favours post.[1] A personal batch of letters is first American, from 1844.[6] The verb, to send by mail, is American English from 1828;[6][2] the OED notes that the usual word in Britain is still post.[6] Mail order is from 1867, mailman from 1881, and mailing list from 1876.[2][6] Electronic mail and email followed in the late 20th century.[7]
Timeline
- c. 1200 – a travelling bag.[2][6]
- 1654 – a bag of letters.[2]
- 1680s – letters and parcels.[6]
- 1690s – the postal system.[6]
- 1789 – as a newspaper name.[6]
- 1828 – verb, American English.[6]
- 1867 – mail order.[2]
- 1881 – mailman.[2]
Modern meaning
Noun
- Letters and parcels sent by post.
- The letters delivered to a particular person or place.
- The postal system.
- Messages sent by email.
Verb
- To send by post or email.
Word family
- mailbox
- mailman
- mailbag
- mail order
- mailer
- mailing list
mail2 armour
Etymology
The armour is inherited from Middle English maile (“link of mail”),[2][5] borrowed from Old French maille (“link of mail, mesh of a net”),[6][2][3] from Latin macula (“mesh of a net; originally a spot, blemish”),[6][2][3] from the notion that the gaps in a net looked like spots;[6] the Latin word is of uncertain origin.[2] It is related to macula, immaculate and mesh.[6]
Earliest recorded meaning
Armour of metal rings: probably before 1300 in Barnhart, as maile “mail, link of mail”,[2] about 1300 in Etymonline,[6] and about 1320 in the OED, of one of the rings or plates.[8]
Semantic evolution
Armour made of interlaced rings as a whole is from about 1374.[8][3] Its use goes back to late Roman times, and it was the favourite armour of Europe in the 12th and 13th centuries, effective but heavy and costly.[6] The breast feathers of a hawk were called mail from the 15th century,[3] and the protective shell or scales of animals from 1714.[8] The figurative sense is from 1813.[8]
Timeline
- c. 1300 – a link of mail.[2][6]
- c. 1374 – mail armour.[8]
- 15th century – a hawk's breast feathers.[3]
- 1714 – a protective shell.[8]
Modern meaning
Noun
- Flexible armour made of small metal rings linked together or of overlapping plates.
- A protective covering such as the shell of a tortoise.
Verb
- To cover with mail.
Word family
- chain mail
- mailed
Related words
Usage notes
A third, Scottish mail, “payment, rent, tribute”, from late Old English māl, from Old Norse mál “speech, agreement”, survives in blackmail.[6][3][5]
References
- ^ a b c d e Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
- ^ a b c d e f g h Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press