mallow

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English malwe,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English mealwe, also malwe,^[5][6][7][3] borrowed from Latin malva.^[8][5][7][1] The later word may owe something to Old French malve, also mauve: the American Heritage Dictionary and the Middle English Dictionary name it as a second source, Barnhart thinks it, with the Latin, a likelier source than the Old English word, and Etymonline sees a spelling alteration of the Old English word together with direct use of the Latin.^{[9][2][10][11]} The Latin word and Ancient Greek μαλάχη (malákhē, “mallow”), also μολόχη (molókhē), are generally traced to a lost Mediterranean language.^[11][7][12] Beekes assumes a Pre-Greek form, and notes the traditional comparison with Biblical Hebrew מַלּוּחַ (mallūaḥ), a plant name;^[12] de Vaan calls Semitic a possibility,^[13] the American Heritage Dictionary says probably Semitic,^[9] and Klein derives both from the Hebrew word.^[4] Skeat thought the plant was named for its softening properties, comparing μαλακός (malakós, “soft”), and Partridge also considered that link possible.^[6][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

The common European plant of waysides: early Old English, in Bald's Leechbook,^[8] and Bosworth–Toller quotes the Leechbook on eating bread and mallows.^[5] It also has the word in Ælfric's glossary, rendering malva.^[5] Barnhart dates the Old English word to about 1000.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The word has always named the plant, and much of its early record is medical: Middle English texts use mallow leaves and a decoction of mallows, for instance to wash the head.^[2] Old English also had the compound mersc-mealwe; compare marshmallow.^[5] The plain word could stretch to related plants: the rose of Sharon before 1400, the marshmallow in 1483, and the hollyhock in 1707–12, all rare and obsolete.^[8][2] In Job, the King James Bible of 1611 has "mallows" for the Hebrew word,^[1][4] because the two sounded alike;^[8] the Revised English Bible reads "saltwort".^[8] In 1656 Cowley used it for the leaf or fibre of the plant as a writing material.^[8] The French form of the same Latin word gave English mauve in 1859, named for the purple markings on the petals,^[11] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged also records mallow as a colour, a purplish red.^[3] Regional names include mallow-rocks for a mallow in Dorset, and in Orkney mallow was the sea wrack.^[15]

Timeline

• early Old English – the common mallow, as mealwe.^[8]
• before 1325 – the form malue.^[10][2]
• 1392 – the form malowe.^[10]
• before 1400 – the rose of Sharon (obsolete, rare).^[8]
• 1483 – the marshmallow (obsolete, rare).^[8]
• 1656 – the leaf or fibre of the plant used for writing on (obsolete).^[8]
• 1707–12 – the hollyhock (obsolete, rare).^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A plant of the genus Malva, especially the common European Malva sylvestris, with purple, pink or white flowers.^[16][3][17]
2. Any of various related plants of the family Malvaceae, such as the marsh mallow, rose mallow and tree mallow.^[16][3][17]
3. A moderate purplish-red colour.^[3]

Word family

• marshmallow
• common mallow
• globe mallow
• Indian mallow
• musk mallow
• rose mallow

Related words

• mauve
• malva
• malachite

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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)
3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
6. ^ a b Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
11. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ a b Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
13. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
14. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
15. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
16. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
17. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press