many

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English mani, also moni and meni,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English manig, also monig, mænig and menig,^[5][4][6] from Proto-Germanic *managaz.^[3][7] It is cognate with Old Frisian manich, Old Saxon manag, Dutch menig, Old High German manag, German manch, Swedish mången and Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌽𐌰𐌲𐍃 (manags).^[3][4][8] The relationship of Old Norse margr to these is unclear, according to the OED.^[8] Variation between a or o and e in Old English comes from i-mutation, caused by a suffix change in very early Old English.^[8] The further origin is debated.^[7][3] The American Heritage Dictionary and Etymonline derive it from Proto-Indo-European *menegh- (“copious”),^[9][3] which Ayto and Hoad write *monogho-,^[10][6] with cognates in Old Irish menicc (“frequent”) and Welsh mynych (“often”), and in a word meaning "much, many" in the Slavic languages.^[6][10][2] Kroonen holds that the forms cannot be reconciled into one proto-form, and that the word may have been borrowed from a non-Indo-European source; Finnish moni is connected with it and cannot have come from Germanic.^[7] Etymonline gives both explanations.^[3] The noun meaning "a multitude" has its own suffix: menigu, from *manaʒīn-, like Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌽𐌰𐌲𐌴𐌹 (managei, “multitude”) and German Menge.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A large number of: Barnhart dates Old English monig and manig to about 725, in Beowulf.^[4] The OED's first records, from the early Old English period, have it both with a singular noun and no article and with a plural noun.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The word was originally distributive, used with a singular noun, a use still preserved in many a.^[11][8] The older construction without the article survived until 1869, by then only in Scots,^[8] while many a is recorded from about 1300 and is now literary.^[8][12] Middle English formed its own comparative and superlative, manier and maniest, which more and most replaced.^[3][12] The pronunciation with /e/ dates from the 13th century, and perhaps arose from association with the unrelated any; manifold keeps the older vowel.^[10][3] The noun "the great body of people" dates from the 1520s,^[3][13] and a philosophical use, the multitude as opposed to the one, from before 1620.^[13] Johnson (1755) defined the adjective as "consisting of a great number; numerous; more than few".^[14] Scots has the forms mony and monie, and dialects also had many-a-many, very many.^[15] Many happy returns has been a greeting since the 18th century, used of any festive day before it became a birthday wish in the mid-19th century, according to the Phrase Finder.^[16]

Timeline

• c. 725 – Old English monig, manig, in Beowulf.^[4]
• 1137 – Middle English mani, adjective and noun.^[4]
• 13th century – the pronunciation with /e/.^[10]
• c. 1300 – many a before a singular noun.^[8]
• c. 1350 – the proverb Many honden maken liʒt werk.^[3]
• before 1425 – noun, a company or retinue (obsolete by 1700).^[13]
• 1525 – noun, a large number, with the indefinite article.^[13]
• 1526 – noun, the many, the great body of people.^[13][3]
• before 1620 – noun, in philosophy, a plurality as opposed to the one.^[13]
• 18th century – many happy returns.^[16]

Meanings

Determiner

1. Amounting to a large number: Many visitors come in spring.^[17][5][12]
2. many a, many another: each of a large number, with a singular noun: many a sailor.^[17][5][18]
3. After as, so, too and the like, indicating a number: too many chairs.^[17][8]

Pronoun

1. A large number of people or things: Many left early.^[17][5][18]

Noun

1. a good many, a great many: a large number.^[5][18]
2. the many: the great majority of people; the masses.^[17][5][18]
3. (philosophy) A plurality, as opposed to the one.^[5][13]
4. (obsolete, 1425–1700) A company or retinue.^[5][13]

Word family

• manyfold
• manyplies
• overmany
• manifold
• many-sided

Related words

• meinie

References

1. ^ a b 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b c d e f g h Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
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 Martin, Gary, The Phrase Finder: Meaning and Origin of Phrases, Sayings, Clichés and Quotes, https://www.phrases.org.uk
17. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
18. ^ a b c d Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House