Etymologically
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match

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /mætʃ/[1]

match1 equal, contest

Etymology

The equal is inherited from Middle English macche, inherited from Old English mæcca, gemæcca (“companion, mate, spouse; an equal”),[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *gamakjô,[3][5] “fitting well together”,[2] related to Old English gemaca (“companion”) and macian (“to make”).[4][6][7] Its cognates include Old Saxon gimako (“fellow, equal”) and Old High German gimah (“comfort, ease”),[2][7] and Etymonline traces it to Proto-Indo-European *mag- (“to knead, fashion, fit”).[2] It is related to make and mate.[8][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A husband or wife, a mate: Old English gemæcca, before 971,[3] or before 831.[9] One's equal or companion is from about 975.[9]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English macche meant one's spouse about 1200, in the Ormulum, and one's equal about 1300.[3] A person able to contend with another, an adequate opponent, is from about 1300,[2][9] which led to the sporting sense “contest”, from the 1540s[2] or the early 16th century.[8] A person or thing that exactly corresponds to another is from about 1400.[2] A marriage, as in a good match, is from the 1570s.[2] The verb meant “to be an adequate opponent for” in the mid-14th century, and “to join, especially in marriage” in the late 14th.[2] “To make agree or harmonize” is from the 1520s, and “to be equal to” from the 1590s.[2]

Timeline

  • before 971 – Old English gemæcca, mate.[3]
  • c. 1300 – an equal; an opponent.[3][2]
  • mid-14th century – verb, to rival.[2]
  • c. 1400 – a counterpart.[2]
  • 1520s – verb, to harmonize.[2]
  • 1540s – a contest.[2]
  • 1570s – a marriage.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A contest or game between opponents.
  2. A person or thing able to compete equally with another.
  3. A person or thing exactly like or harmonizing with another; a pair that go well together.
  4. A marriage; a person seen as a prospective partner.

Verb

  1. To be exactly like; to correspond to.
  2. To harmonize with; to find or provide a counterpart for.
  3. To be equal to; to put in competition with.

Word family

  • matcher
  • matching
  • matchless
  • matchmaker
  • mismatch
  • match point
  • rematch

match2 lighter

Etymology

The lighter is inherited from Middle English macche (“wick of a candle or lamp”),[2][3] borrowed from Old French meiche (“wick of a candle”), modern mèche,[2][3][6] from Vulgar Latin *micca, *miccia, of uncertain origin,[2][10] probably from Latin myxa (“nozzle of a lamp; lamp wick”), from Ancient Greek μύξα (múxa, “mucus, lamp wick”),[2][10][11] the image being of a wick dangling from the spout like mucus from a nostril.[2] Klein takes the Vulgar Latin word as a blend of myxa with another word.[7] Spanish mecha and Italian miccia are cognates.[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The wick of a candle or lamp: about 1378, in a version of Piers Plowman,[3] or 1377,[9] a sense now obsolete.[6]

Semantic evolution

The modern spelling is from the mid-15th century.[2] A cord or wick for firing a gun is from 1549,[9][4] and a piece of cord or wood dipped in sulphur, used to light fires or candles, from 1530.[9][2] The modern friction match, tipped with a substance that ignites when struck, is so called from 1831[9] or by 1830, and competed for much of the 19th century with lucifer.[2] Matchbook is from the 20th century.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 1378 – a wick (Piers Plowman).[3]
  • 1530 – a sulphured splint for lighting.[9][2]
  • 1549 – a fuse for a gun.[9]
  • 1831 – a friction match.[9]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A short, thin piece of wood or cardboard with a tip that ignites when struck.
  2. (historical) A slow-burning cord or wick once used to fire guns.

Word family

  • matchbox
  • matchstick
  • matchbook
  • matchlock
  • matchwood
  • make
  • mate
  • mucus
  • lucifer

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  11. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster