Etymologically
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mill

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Pronunciation

mill1 grinding

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English mulne, mylne, mille, inherited from Old English mylen,[2][3][4] an early borrowing borrowed from Late Latin molīna, molīnum (“mill”),[2][3] the feminine and neuter of molīnus (“of a mill”), from mola (“mill, millstone”), related to molere “to grind”,[2][3][4] from Proto-Indo-European *mele- (“to crush, grind”).[2] Late Latin molina also gave German Mühle, Old Norse mylna and French moulin.[2][3] The n was gradually lost but survives in the surname Milner.[2] It is related to meal and molar.[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A building with machinery for grinding grain: about 961 in the OED and Barnhart.[6][3]

Semantic evolution

The grinding apparatus itself is from 1535.[6] A machine for grinding other substances is from 1560 in the OED, the 1670s in Etymonline.[6][2] Other machines worked by wind or water came to be called mills by the early 15th century,[2] and a building for manufacturing, a factory, from about 1500.[2][4] Put through the mill is from the early 19th century.[5] A boxing match was a mill in 1819 slang.[2] The verb, to grind in a mill, is from the 1550s and 1560s,[2] and to flute the edge of a coin from 1724.[2] To move round aimlessly in a crowd, at first of cattle, is from 1874.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 961 – a grain mill.[6]
  • c. 1500 – a factory.[2]
  • 1550s – the verb.[2]
  • 1724 – to mill a coin's edge.[2]
  • 1874 – to mill around.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A building with machinery for grinding grain into flour.
  2. A factory for processing raw materials: a steel mill, a paper mill.
  3. A small device for grinding pepper, coffee and the like.
  4. A machine that crushes, presses or rolls things.

Verb

  1. To grind or process in a mill.
  2. To shape or finish metal with a milling machine, or cut ridges on the edge of a coin.
  3. (with about or around) Of a crowd, to move around without purpose.

mill2 thousandth of a dollar

Etymology

The money of account is a shortening of Latin mīllēsimum (“a thousandth part”), from mīlle (“a thousand”),[2][3][7] formed after cent, short for Latin centēsimus “a hundredth”.[2][7] See mile and million.[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

One thousandth of a dollar, an original unit of United States currency: 1786 in Etymonline and MWU, 1791 in Barnhart.[2][8][3]

Semantic evolution

It is now used only in calculating taxes.[2] One thousandth of a pound was proposed as a coin in Britain and used in Cyprus.[7]

Timeline

  • 1786 – a thousandth of a dollar.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. One thousandth of a dollar, or a tenth of a cent, used in calculating taxes.

Usage notes

Mill is also an informal shortening of million and of millimetre, both from the mid-20th century.[7]

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster