*māl

Reconstruction

Ringe and Taylor reconstruct *māl for Proto-West Germanic,^[1][2] and Wiktionary has the same form.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *mēlą (“time”),^[4][5] which Kroonen cites by its stem *mēla- and Orel as *mēlan.^[5][6] Proto-Germanic *ē became *ā throughout Northwest Germanic, giving *mālą,^[4] and then Proto-West Germanic *māl.^[1] The West Saxon Old English form mǣl shows the later fronting of the vowel.^[1]

Morphology

A neuter a-stem noun.^[7][8]

Evidence

The noun is found as Old English mǣl, Old Frisian mēl "mealtime" and Old High German māl.^[4] Old Frisian also has the compound etmēl (“period of 24 hours”),^[1] and early Mercian Old English has ⟨styċċimēlum⟩ "piecemeal" in the Corpus Glossary.^[2] In Old High German the word is found only in Notker, in prepositional phrases such as zi drīn mālon "three times" and in dative constructions.^[8]

Competing analyses

Kroonen separates three Proto-Germanic nouns *mēla-: "point in time", "spot, mark" and "measure"; for the first, some take it to be the same word as "measure", but it may also start from a sense "spot, point".^[5] Orel takes his *mēlan "mark" to be historically the same word as *mēlan "time", which he derives from a root meaning "to measure".^[6] EWA keeps the Old High German words apart: "time" goes back to an adjective "measuring", made into a noun "measure" that developed in Germanic into "point in time", while "mark" comes from a root meaning "dark, dirt"; it rejects Kroonen's bridge between the two through "measure".^[8][9] Wiktionary puts all the senses under one Proto-Germanic *mēlą, from which it derives the verb *mēlijaną "to mark",^[10] the source of Ringe and Taylor's *mālijan "to make marks".^[2]

Meanings

1. time, occasion^[4][3]
2. mealtime^[3]

EWA explains the sense "meal", which several Germanic languages share, as coming from "(fixed) time for eating".^[8] Old English also used the word for "measure" and "season".^[7]

Reflexes

• Old English: mǣl (“measure, time, occasion, season, meal”)^[7]
• Old Frisian: mēl (“meal”)^[11]
• Old High German: māl (“point in time, time”)^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 150
2. ^ a b c Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 239
3. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *māl
4. ^ a b c d Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 11
5. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 362
6. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 269
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. mǣl
8. ^ a b c d e Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. s.v. mâl²
9. ^ Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. s.v. mâl¹
10. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *mēlą
11. ^ Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. mēl