miner

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English minour, also miner,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman minour, minor,^[4][5] from Old French mineor,^[4][6][3] an agent noun from miner (“to mine”),^[7][4][3] which is probably from mine, the source of mine.^[4] The ending was later changed under the influence of the English suffix -er.^[3][8] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from 1195, both for a person who digs out metals and minerals and for a sapper tunnelling under a besieged fortress.^[5] The OED compares Medieval Latin minarius (“sapper”), recorded in British sources from the late 12th century.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A soldier who digs underground passages beneath the walls of a fortress: before 1300, in the poem A Mayde Cristes.^[4][2] Etymonline dates the word to about 1300, and as a surname to the early 13th century.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The military sense came first; the sense of a person who works in a mine and extracts minerals is recorded from about 1390, in Mannyng's Handlyng Synne.^[4] Johnson (1755) gave both, "one that digs for metals" and "one who makes military mines".^[9] Technical senses followed: a plough for opening deep furrows (1794), an insect larva that burrows in leaves (1830), a mining machine (1951) and a South American ovenbird that digs burrows (1924).^[4] In Australia the name miner is given to several honeyeaters, but that word began as a variant of mynah.^[4][10] The newest sense, recorded from 2011, is a person or organization that mines cryptocurrency.^[4] In Scotland miner's asthma was the lung disease of colliers.^[11]

Timeline

• before 1300 – a soldier who undermines fortifications.^[4][2]
• c. 1390 – a person who works in a mine.^[4]
• 1794 – a deep-furrowing plough (obsolete by 1818).^[4]
• 1830 – an insect larva burrowing in plant tissue (a leaf miner).^[4]
• 1924 – a South American ovenbird of the genus Geositta.^[4]
• 1951 – a mining or tunnelling machine.^[4]
• 2011 – a person or organization mining cryptocurrency.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who works in a mine, digging out coal, ore or other minerals: Her grandfather was a coal miner in Wales.^[3][12][4]
2. A soldier who digs tunnels under enemy positions or lays explosive mines; a sapper.^[3][4][10]
3. A machine used in mining or tunnelling.^[3][4]
4. An insect larva that burrows inside a leaf; a leaf miner.^[4]
5. A person or organization that mines cryptocurrency.^[4]

Word family

• goldminer
• leaf miner
• miner's lettuce

Related words

• mine
• mining
• mineral

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ 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)
12. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins