malt

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English malt, also malte and mault,^[2] inherited from Old English malt in the Anglian dialect and mealt in West Saxon,^[3][4][5] inherited from Proto-Germanic *maltą.^[3][4][6] It is cognate with Old Saxon malt, Middle Dutch malt and mout (modern Dutch mout), Old High German malz (modern German Malz) and Old Norse malt.^[7][4][8] The Germanic noun is a substantivized adjective Proto-Germanic *maltaz (“soft; gone bad”),^[6][9] which survives in the Old High German adjective meaning soft, weak or mild and in Old Norse maltr (“bitter; rotten”);^[10][9][6] Kroonen derives the adjective from the strong verb Proto-Germanic *meltaną, the source of melt.^[9][10][11] Ayto takes the word to mean etymologically the softening of the grain by steeping it in water before it germinates.^[12] Etymonline and the American Heritage Dictionary place it under the root Proto-Indo-European *mel- (“soft”),^[3][13] and Klein under an enlarged form of that root, with Latin mollis (“soft”) and Ancient Greek μέλδω (méldō, “to melt”).^[8][6] From the same Germanic word come Finnish mallas,^[3][7] Czech mláto and Polish młóto (“draff”),^[7] and French malt (1702) is from English.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Grain prepared for brewing: the word glosses Latin bratium in the Épinal Glossary of the early Old English period,^[7][5] which Barnhart dates to about 700.^[4] The West Saxon form mealt follows about 950.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The core sense, barley or other grain softened by steeping, allowed to sprout and then dried in a kiln for brewing, distilling or vinegar-making, has not changed since Old English.^[7][11] The verb came from the noun: the gerund malting is recorded about 1300, and the verb itself in the Promptorium Parvulorum of 1440, glossing Latin brasio.^[4][2][7] In Scotland meal and malt meant food and drink from about 1547,^[7] and the proverb the malt is above the meal, said of a drunk person, is recorded in Heywood's collection of 1546.^[7] By the late 17th century the noun was used attributively for drinks made from malt, as in malt liquor,^[11][3] while from 1718 malt alone could mean such a drink, now especially malt whisky.^[7][3] In London underworld slang malt meant tea in 1800,^[14] and to malt (it) meant to drink beer in the early 19th century.^[14][7] In the United States malt became short for a cold malted milk drink in the 1940s.^[7][3] Chaucer used the word three times.^[15] Dialect forms such as maut and ma't were recorded in Scotland, Cumberland, Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cheshire.^[16]

Timeline

• c. 700 – Anglian malt, in the Épinal Glossary.^[4][7]
• c. 950 – West Saxon mealt.^[4]
• c. 1300 – the gerund malting.^[4]
• 1440 – verb, to make grain into malt.^[7][2][4]
• 1546 – the proverb the malt is above the meal.^[7]
• c. 1547 – Scots meal and malt, food and drink.^[7]
• 1605 – verb, to make beer with malt (now obsolete).^[7]
• 1690s – malt liquor.^[3]
• 1718 – an alcoholic drink made from malt, later especially malt whisky.^[7][3]
• 1800 – underworld slang for tea.^[14]
• 1813 – verb, to drink beer.^[7][14]
• 1872 – malt extract.^[7]
• 1942 – a malted milk drink, in the United States.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. Grain, usually barley, that has been soaked in water, allowed to germinate and then dried in a kiln, used in brewing and distilling.^[17][18][7]
2. Malt liquor, such as beer or ale.^[18][11]
3. (informal) Malt whisky, or a glass of it: He ordered a twelve-year-old malt.^[18][7][11]
4. (US) A malted milk drink.^[7][17]
5. Malt extract.^[7]

Verb

1. To turn grain into malt.^[17][18][7]
2. To make or flavour something with malt: malted biscuits.^[17][18][11]
3. Of grain, to become malt.^[17][18]

Adjective

1. Made with or from malt.^[11][3]

Word family

• malty
• maltase
• maltol
• maltster
• maltose
• malt liquor
• single malt
• malt shop

Related words

• melt
• malted milk
• malt whisky

Usage notes

A separate word Malt, a Maltese person, is a slang clipping of Maltese, usually derogatory, recorded from 1945.^[14][7][11] Weekley notes that maltster, like brewster, originally named a woman's occupation.^[19] In East Anglian dialect another malt meant sweat or great heat.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
6. ^ a b c d Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
7. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
13. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
14. ^ a b c d e Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
15. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
16. ^ a b 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)
17. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
18. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
19. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray