Etymologically
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mess

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Pronunciation

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

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