mitten

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈmɪtən/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English mitain, borrowed from Old French mitaine (“mitten, half-glove”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} of uncertain origin.^[4] It may come from Old French mite “mitten”, perhaps originally a pet name for a cat,^[2][3][5][6] or from Medieval Latin mitta, perhaps from Middle High German mittemo “middle”, as a “half-glove”.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A covering for the hand with a separate place for the thumb but none for the fingers (c. 1386 in the OED; about 1390 in Barnhart);^[7][3] it is found earlier as a surname (1248).^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

From 1755 the word also named a lace or knitted silk glove covering the forearm, wrist and part of the hand, fashionable among women in the early 19th century.^[7][4] The colloquial phrase to get the mitten, of a suitor, “to be rejected” (1825–38), came from the idea of receiving the mitten instead of the hand.^[4][7] In slang mittens meant the hands, boxing gloves or handcuffs.^[7]

Timeline

• 1248 – as a surname.^[3]
• c. 1386 – a mitten.^[7]
• 1755 – a lace or silk half-glove.^[7][4]
• 1825 – to get the mitten, to be rejected.^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A covering for the hand that encloses the four fingers together and the thumb separately.
2. A mitt.

Word family

• mittened

Related words

• mitt
• glove
• gauntlet

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press