Etymologically
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mere

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Three words are spelled mere: the adjective, from Latin merus, and two Old English nouns, a lake and a boundary.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /mɪə/, US /mɪr/[4]

mere1 only

Etymology

It is borrowed from Anglo-Norman meer, Old French mier, pure, entire, and directly Latin merus (“unmixed, pure, bare”),[5][1][3][6] probably originally clear, bright, from PIE *mer-, to gleam.[5][1] De Vaan doubts that pure comes from shining and suggests a PIE *merH-o-, remaining, pure.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pure, unmixed: about 1390;[5] of a voice, pure, clear, the late 14th century.[1]

Semantic evolution

Absolute, sheer, nothing less than (of mere malice), is first recorded about 1443 and survives only in phrases such as mere folly.[5][1] The apparently opposite sense, nothing more than (a mere dream), is from 1581 (the 1580s),[5][1] and the two existed side by side for centuries.[1] Done without another's help is a 15th-century legal sense.[3][6]

Timeline

  • c. 1390 – pure.[5]
  • c. 1443 – absolute, sheer.[5]
  • 1581 – nothing more than.[5]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Being nothing more than what is said: a mere child.
  2. Considered by itself alone.
  3. Small or slight.
  4. (archaic) Pure; unmixed.

Word family

  • merely

mere2 lake

Etymology

It is inherited from Old English mere (“sea, ocean; lake, pool”),[1][5][3] from Proto-Germanic *mari,[1][5] source also of Old Norse marr, Dutch meer (“lake, sea”) and German Meer (“sea”),[1][5] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *mori- (“body of water”), also the source of Latin mare (“sea”) (see marine).[1][5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A lake or pond: before 700;[5][7] the sea, before 1000.[7]

Semantic evolution

The sense sea, or arm of the sea, has been obsolete since Middle English.[1][7] A marsh or fen is from the 13th century, now dialectal.[7] The word is now chiefly poetic or dialectal, and frequent in place names;[7] the Century Dictionary noted that it was not used in the United States except artificially in some local names.[1] The EDD records it from Scotland to Derbyshire and Lincolnshire.[8]

Timeline

  • before 700 – a lake.[5]
  • before 1000 – the sea (obsolete).[7]
  • 13th century – a marsh.[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. (chiefly British, poetic) A small lake, pond or marsh.

mere3 boundary

Etymology

It is inherited from Old English mǣre (“boundary, a boundary mark”), ġemǣre,[1][2] from Proto-Germanic *mairjo-, source also of Middle Dutch mere, boundary mark, and Old Norse -mæri, borderland;[1] Etymonline relates it to Latin murus (“wall”) (see mural).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A boundary, or an object marking one: about 825.[7]

Semantic evolution

Once an important word, it now survives in provincial use and in place names.[1] Merestone, a boundary stone, is Old English mǣrstān,[1] and in Middle English the meres of erthe (about 1400) were the ends of the earth.[1] A green balk or road serving as a boundary is from 1607,[7] and in Derbyshire lead mining a measure of ground containing ore from 1653.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 825 – a boundary.[7]
  • c. 1400 – the ends of the earth.[1]
  • 1607 – a boundary road.[7]
  • 1653 – in lead mining.[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. (archaic, dialect) A boundary or boundary mark.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  2. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ a b 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 d e f g h i j k l m Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ 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)