mule

Pronunciation

• IPA: /mjuːl/, /mjuːəl/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English mule, partly inherited from Old English mūl and partly borrowed from Old French mul,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} both from Latin mūlus (“mule”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} probably, like Greek múklos “pack ass”, a loanword from a language of Asia Minor.^[4] The unrelated mule “slipper” is borrowed from Middle French mule,^[2][3][4][5] from Latin mulleus (“red shoe worn by Roman magistrates”).^[2][3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The offspring of a male donkey and a mare (c. 1000).^[7][3]

Semantic evolution

Though the mule is proverbial for obstinacy, the OED finds no good grounds for this.^[4] The word was applied to a stupid or obstinate person from about 1470,^[7][4] the sense “stubborn” being established by the 18th century.^[4] It was used of hybrids in general,^[7][5] and of Samuel Crompton's spinning machine (mule-jenny, 1788), a “hybrid” of the machines of Arkwright and Hargreaves.^[4] In 20th-century slang a mule is a person who smuggles drugs (1935).^[7][5][6] The slipper mule dates from 1562.^[7][3][5]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – the animal.^[7][3]
• c. 1470 – a stupid or obstinate person.^[7]
• 1562 – a kind of slipper.^[7][3][5]
• 1788 – mule-jenny, a spinning machine.^[4]
• 1935 – US slang, a drug courier.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The usually sterile hybrid offspring of a male donkey and a female horse, with long ears and a short mane, valued as a work animal.
2. Any sterile hybrid, as between a canary and another bird, or between plants.
3. A very stubborn person.
4. A spinning machine that draws and twists fibres into yarn.
5. A small tractor or locomotive for hauling over short distances.
6. (slang) A person who carries or smuggles illegal drugs.
7. A slipper or shoe without a back or heel strap.

Word family

• muleteer
• mulish
• mule deer

Related words

• hinny
• donkey
• mullet

References

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