must

Pronunciation

• IPA: /mʌst/, /məst/^[1][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English moste,^[3][4] inherited from Old English mōste, the past tense of mōtan (“to be allowed to, be able to, have to”),^[5][6][3] from Proto-Germanic *mōtaną.^[3][5] Its cognates include Old Frisian mōta, Old Saxon mōtan, Dutch moeten, German müssen and Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌼𐍉𐍄𐌰𐌽 (gamōtan, “to have room”).^[5][7][4] The further origin is uncertain.^[5][8] Etymonline mentions an old suggestion, lately doubted, that it comes from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to take appropriate measures”);^[5][9] Merriam-Webster and Barnhart derive it from the stem of Old English metan (“to measure”) (see mete), with a basic meaning “to have allotted to one”,^[4][7] while Hoad calls it of unknown origin.^[8] Weekley notes that the original idea was room or leisure, as in German Muße (“leisure”).^[10][8] The noun meaning new wine is a separate word, inherited from Old English must, borrowed from Latin mustum, short for vīnum mustum (“fresh wine”), from mustus (“fresh, new”);^[3][5][6] must “mustiness” is probably a back-formation from musty,^[3][6][11] and must “frenzy of a male elephant” is from Urdu مست (mast, “intoxicated”), from Persian.^[11][3][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Old English mōste was a past tense, “was allowed, could” or “had to” (about 725, in Beowulf).^[7][13][14]

Semantic evolution

As the past tense of mōt (later mote), the word expressed permission or possibility, a sense that lasted until the late 14th century, and necessity in the past, until the late 15th.^[13][15] It came to be used as a present tense from about 1300, eventually displacing mote, from the custom of using a past subjunctive as a softer, more polite form of the present.^[5][10] The original past sense survives in literary use, as in Macaulay's “The government must either submit to Rome, or must obtain the aid of the Protestants”.^[10][15] Since it has no other forms, its past is often supplied by had to.^[16] The verb was used as a noun from 1598 in Merriam-Webster (1603 in the OED);^[4][14] the sense “something that has to be done or seen”, originally American, dates from 1892,^[14][3][5] the adjectival use “indispensable” from 1912,^[7][14] and must-read from 1959.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 725 – Old English mōste, in Beowulf.^[7]
• before 899 – must, new wine.^[3]
• before 1131 – moste.^[3]
• c. 1300 – used as a present tense.^[5]
• 1598 – as a noun, a command or obligation.^[4][15]
• 1602 – must, mustiness, mould.^[3][14]
• 1871 – must of an elephant in frenzy.^[3][14]
• 1892 – something that has to be done (US).^[14][3][5]
• 1912 – as an adjective, essential.^[14][3]
• 1959 – must-read.^[5]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To be obliged or required to, by law, custom or morality.
2. To be compelled by physical necessity: plants must have oxygen.
3. Used to express a command or insistence: you must not go there alone.
4. To be determined to: if you must leave.
5. Used to express what is very likely or logically certain: we must be there by now.

Noun

1. (informal) Something essential, or not to be missed.
2. The juice of grapes or other fruit before or during fermentation.
3. Mould; mustiness.
4. A variant of musth, the frenzy of a male elephant.

Word family

• must-read
• must-have

Related words

• mote
• musty
• musth
• mustard
• mete

Usage notes

Random House compares must, ought and should: must expresses necessity or compulsion, ought a weaker obligation or what is desirable, and should obligation, expectation or probability.^[17] In the sense of obligation must not expresses a prohibition rather than the absence of an obligation.^[2]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
10. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Yule, Henry; Burnell, A. C. (1903), Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, new ed. by William Crooke, London: John Murray
13. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ 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
15. ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
16. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2008), 11th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap
17. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House