mess

Pronunciation

• IPA: /mes/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English mes,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French mes (“portion of food, prepared dish, course at dinner”),^[4][2] from Late Latin missus (“course at dinner”), literally “a placing, a putting” on the table,^[4][2] from the past participle of Latin mittere (“to put, place”), in classical Latin “to send, let go”.^[4][2][3] It is related to mission.^[4][2] Modern French writes the word mets, influenced by mettre “to place”.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A serving of food, a course or a prepared dish: before 1300 in the OED,^[7] about 1300 in Etymonline,^[4] probably before 1300 in Barnhart, in Arthour and Merlin.^[2]

Semantic evolution

A group of people who eat together is from the early 15th century,^[4] originally a group of four;^[4][8] at the Inns of Court a mess still consisted of four in the 19th century.^[8] The phrase mess of pottage, after Esau's sale of his birthright in Genesis, is found about 1452.^[2][9] In the 15th century a mess was especially a liquid or pulpy food,^[2] and mixed food for animals is from 1738, in Pope;^[2][4] this probably led to the contemptuous sense “a jumble, a mixed mass” (1828)^[4] and to the figurative “state of confusion” (1834) and “condition of untidiness” (1851).^[4][2] A place where soldiers or sailors eat is from the 19th century, as in mess hall (by 1832).^[4] The verb first meant to serve up food (1381 in Barnhart, late 14th century in Etymonline);^[2][4] to take one's meals in company is from 1701,^[4][7] and to make dirty or untidy from 1853.^[4][2] Mess with, to interfere, is by 1903, and mess up, to make a mistake, from 1933, both originally American colloquial.^[4] Messy is from 1843.^[2]

Timeline

• a. 1300 – a serving of food.^[7]
• 1381 – verb, to serve food.^[2]
• early 15th century – a company eating together.^[4]
• c. 1452 – mess of pottage.^[2]
• 1701 – verb, to take meals together.^[4]
• 1738 – mixed food for animals.^[2][4]
• 1834 – a state of confusion.^[4][2]
• 1851 – an untidy condition.^[4][2]
• 1853 – verb, to make untidy.^[4][2]
• 1903 – mess with.^[4]
• 1933 – mess up, to make a mistake.^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A dirty or untidy state, or an untidy heap of things.
2. A confused or troubled situation; a muddle.
3. A group of people who regularly eat together, especially in the armed forces, or the place where they eat.
4. (archaic) A portion of food, especially soft or liquid food.

Verb

1. To make dirty or untidy; to botch.
2. To eat in a mess as one of its members.
3. mess with: to interfere or meddle with.

Word family

• messy
• mess-up
• messroom
• messmate
• mess around
• mess over
• mess hall
• mess jacket

Related words

• mission

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ 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 Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
9. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press