Etymologically
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mind

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /maɪnd/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English mynd, a shortening of imynd,[2][3] inherited from Old English gemynd (“memory, remembrance; thought, intention”),[4][5][6] from Proto-Germanic *ga-mundiz,[4] formed with the prefix ge- and a weak grade of Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to think”).[4][3][7] Its relatives include Old High German gimunt (“memory”),[5][8] minna (“love”) (originally loving memory),[4][9] Latin mēns (“mind”) and Ancient Greek μένος (ménos, “spirit, passion”).[5][10][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Memory, remembrance; thought, purpose; the conscious mind: Old English gemynd, before 725.[5][4] The Middle English form mynd is from about 1175.[5]

Semantic evolution

“Memory”, one of the oldest senses, is now almost gone except in phrases such as bear in mind (late 14th century), call to mind (early 15th century) and keep in mind (late 15th century).[4] Time out of mind dates from the mid-14th century; in English law it later meant the time before Richard I (1189).[4] The sense “the faculty of thinking” arose about 1300, along with “intention, purpose”,[4] and “opinion, way of thinking” in the late 14th century.[4] Out of one's mind “insane” is late 14th century and the mind's eye early 15th century.[4] Have a mind to dates from the 1540s, make up one's mind from 1784 and the American dialect pay no mind from 1910.[4] The verb, from the noun, meant “to remember, remind” in the mid-14th century;[4][11] the Old English verb had been myngian.[4] It came to mean “to notice” in the late 15th century, “to heed” in the 1550s, “to object to” about 1600, “to look after” in the 1690s and “to be careful about” in 1737.[4] Never mind is recorded by 1778.[4] In Scots and dialect mind still means “to remember” or “to remind”, as in Burns's “minds me o' my Jean”.[7]

Timeline

  • before 725 – Old English gemynd.[5]
  • c. 1175 – Middle English mynd.[5]
  • c. 1300 – the thinking faculty; intention.[4]
  • mid-14th century – verb, to remember, and time out of mind.[4]
  • late 14th century – opinion, and bear in mind.[4]
  • late 15th century – verb, to notice.[4]
  • c. 1600 – verb, to object to.[4]
  • 1690s – verb, to look after.[4]
  • 1778 – never mind.[4]
  • 1784 – make up one's mind.[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The part of a person that thinks, feels, perceives and wills; consciousness.
  2. The intellect; the ability to think and reason.
  3. A person of great intelligence: one of the great minds.
  4. Memory: bear in mind.
  5. Opinion or intention: change one's mind.
  6. Sanity: out of one's mind.

Verb

  1. To pay attention to; to heed or obey.
  2. To be careful about: mind the step.
  3. To object to or dislike.
  4. To take care of; to look after.
  5. (Scotland, dialect) To remember, or to remind.

Word family

  • minder
  • remind
  • nevermind
  • mental
  • mention
  • memory
  • comment
  • minnesinger

Usage notes

RHWU distinguishes mind, the part of a person that thinks, feels and wills, as against the body, from intellect, reasoning power as opposed to feeling, and intelligence, the ability to learn and understand.[2] An archaeological mind, an Irish gold ornament shaped like a crescent, is a separate word from Middle Irish.[7][11]

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 Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  3. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  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. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  7. ^ a b c 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
  9. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  11. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press