mood

Mood, a state of mind, and mood in grammar are different words: the first is native English, the second an alteration of mode.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: /muːd/^[4]

mood¹ feeling

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English mod, mood, inherited from Old English mōd (“mind, heart, spirit; courage, pride”),^[2][1][5] from Proto-Germanic *mōda-,^[2] the source also of Dutch moed and German Mut “courage”, Old Norse móðr “anger” and Gothic mōþs “courage, anger”.^[2][1][6] Its further origin is unknown, and Boutkan finds no acceptable Indo-European etymology,^[2][6] though Barnhart and MWU relate it to Latin mōs “custom”.^[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Mind, heart, thought, feeling: before 900 in the OED, a sense now obsolete.^[7] Barnhart has Old English mōd in Beowulf about 725.^[1]

Semantic evolution

It was a much stronger word in Old English than now, used in compounds such as modcræftig “intelligent” and modful “proud”.^[2] Anger is from about 1175, and fierce courage or pride from about 1205; both are obsolete.^[7] A frame of mind or state of feeling is from 971 in the OED, about 1300 in Etymonline.^[7][2] In the mood is from the 1580s,^[2][7] a fit of bad temper by 1859,^[2][7] and mood music and similar uses from 1898.^[7] Mood swings is by 1939.^[2] Trench noted that the grammatical mood seems to have influenced this word.^[3][2] Moody first meant brave or proud.^[1][6]

Timeline

• a. 900 – mind, heart.^[7]
• 971 – a frame of mind.^[7]
• c. 1175 – anger.^[7]
• 1580s – in the mood.^[2]
• 1859 – a fit of temper.^[2][7]
• 1939 – mood swings.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A temporary state of mind or feeling: in a good mood.
2. A period of bad temper or sulking.
3. The general feeling or atmosphere of a place, event or work of art.
4. (in the mood) A wish to do something.

mood² grammar

Etymology

It is an alteration of mode under the influence of mood “feeling”,^[1][2][5] from Middle English mode, borrowed from Old French mode and directly from Latin modus (“manner”).^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In grammar, a form of a verb showing whether the action is a fact, a command and so on: 1569 in MWU, 1573 in Barnhart, the 1570s in Etymonline.^[5][1][2] Middle English mode had this sense from about 1450.^[1]

Semantic evolution

In traditional logic it is from the 1560s, and in music from the 1590s.^[2] Etymonline notes that the two moods have no etymological relationship, although the grammatical and musical uses influenced phrases such as light-hearted mood.^[2]

Timeline

• 1560s – in logic.^[2]
• 1569 – in grammar.^[5]
• 1590s – in music.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. (grammar) A set of verb forms showing the speaker's attitude to an action, such as the indicative, imperative and subjunctive.
2. (logic) A form of syllogism.

Related words

• modal
• mode
• moderate
• model
• module
• modern
• moody

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press