mite

Forms

mite f (plural mites)^[1] Old French mitte.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle Dutch mīte (“mite, moth”),^[2][3][4][5] derived from the root Proto-Germanic *mit- (“to cut into pieces”), so that the insect is named as the one that gnaws.^[2][4][6] Wiktionary traces the Middle Dutch word to *mītǭ (“biting insect”), from *maitaną (“to cut”).^[1] Cognate with Old English mīte, Old High German mīza and Danish mide;^[1][2] English mite has the same sense.^[1][2]

The Grand Robert reports another view, Pierre Guiraud's: if the word first named the larvae, it could be a specialisation of Old French mite “small coin”, from Latin mīca (“crumb”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded as mitte in a late 13th-century manuscript at Cambridge, for an insect that gnaws cloth or eats cheese.^[2] Bloch and Wartburg date the word to the 12th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word names both the small arachnids that live in flour or cheese and the small whitish moth whose larvae eat wool and furs.^[2][5] The 14th-century Ménagier de Paris speaks of mittes blanches under cabbage leaves, from which caterpillars are born.^[8]

Old slang used mite for a prison cell (1800), a word of uncertain origin, perhaps a shortening of cachemitte.^[2] The familiar sense “sleep in the eyes”, in avoir la mite à l'œil (1867), is later than miteux and may come from it;^[3][2] Rey also suggests a separate word or a dialect sense “small piece, crumb”.^[3][2]

From the insect came mité “moth-eaten” (1743) and the verb se miter (1931).^[3] Antimite is recorded from 1960.^[4]

Timeline

• Late 13th century – Mitte is recorded in a Cambridge manuscript.^[2]
• 14th century – The Ménagier de Paris mentions mittes blanches.^[8]
• 1743 – The adjective mité appears.^[3]
• 1800 – Slang mite “prison cell”.^[2]
• 1867 – Delvau records mite for sleep in the eyes.^[2][3]
• 1931 – Se miter is recorded.^[3]
• 1960 – Antimite is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small arachnid or acarid living on plant or animal matter: mite de la farine, mite du fromage.^[5][2][8]
2. A clothes moth, a small whitish moth whose larvae eat woollens and furs: un pull troué par les mites.^[5][2][1]
3. (familiar, dated) Sleep in the eyes: avoir la mite à l'œil.^[5][2]

Word family

• antimite
• mité
• miter

Related words

• miteux
• mitraille
• English mite

Usage notes

Old French also had mite for a copper coin of very low value, originally Flemish;^[4][9] it is borrowed from Middle Dutch mīte, which Bloch and Wartburg take as a separate derivative of the same Germanic root, named as the thing cut into little pieces, while the DHLF sees a probable specialisation of the same word.^[4][3] From this coin came mitaille (1295) and then mitraille.^[4][3] Mangé aux mites is said familiarly of something full of holes or worn out.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)