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mood

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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.

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