Etymologically
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moss

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /mɔs/, /mɑs/; /mɒs/ (UK)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English mose, inherited from Old English mos (“bog”), related to mēos (“moss”),[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *musą,[2][4] cognate with Old High German mos (“moss, bog”) (modern Moos) and Old High German mios;[2][3][5] it was reinforced by Old Norse mosi (“moss, bog”) and Medieval Latin mossa, from the same Germanic source.[2][3] The root is Proto-Indo-European *mews- (“damp”), also seen in Latin muscus (“moss”) and Old Church Slavonic мъхъ (mŭxŭ, “moss”).[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A bog, swamp or peat-bog: 975 in the OED and Barnhart, now chiefly Scots and northern dialect.[6][3] The plant sense is found from about 1150.[6][3]

Semantic evolution

The bog sense comes first in the record, but Word Origins notes this may be chance, since the plant sense follows soon after and both senses occur in the related Germanic languages.[7] Hoad suggests the English plant sense may be due to Old Norse.[4] The proverb a rolling stone gathers no moss is recorded from 1362.[6] The verb, to become mossy, is from the same year.[6]

Timeline

  • 975 – a bog.[6][3]
  • ?c. 1150 – the plant.[6]
  • 1362 – a rolling stone gathers no moss.[6]
  • 1837 – moss, a moss rose.[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A small green nonvascular plant, a bryophyte, that grows in dense mats on trees, rocks and damp ground.
  2. A clump or covering of such plants.
  3. Any of various similar but unrelated plants, as club moss or Spanish moss.
  4. (Scotland and northern England) A bog or peat bog.

Verb

  1. To cover with moss.

Word family

  • mosslike
  • mossback
  • moss-grown
  • moss-trooper
  • mossy
  • unmossed
  • house moss
  • moss green
  • mire
  • mousse
  • lichen

Usage notes

The bog sense is in general dialect use in Scotland, Ireland and the northern counties of England as far as Lancashire, Cheshire and Derbyshire.[8] The French form mousse, moss and foam, came into English in the 19th century.[7]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ 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)