Etymologically
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misceo

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈmɪs.ke.oː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈmiʃ.ʃe.o][1]

Forms

misceō (present infinitive miscēre, perfect active miscuī, supine mixtum or mistum); second conjugation[1] An inscription from Praeneste has the imperative misc.[2][3] The participle is also written mistum.[1][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *mik-sk-e/o- (“to mix”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *miḱ-sk-e/o-, an inchoative present of Proto-Indo-European *meyḱ- (“to mix”).[2][1] Why it belongs to the second conjugation is unclear.[2][1] Cognate with Old Irish mescaid (“mixes”), Sanskrit मेक्षयति (mekṣáyati, “stirs”), Ancient Greek μίσγω (mísgō, “to mix”), Lithuanian miešiù (“I mix”) and Old English miscian (“to mix”).[2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus uses it.[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[6]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it was to mix or blend, as Horace mixes Surrentine wine with Falernian lees, to concoct by mixing, to entwine, and to bring people together.[3][7] It was to unite or share, and to throw into confusion or stir up trouble, as in caelum ac terrās miscēre “to turn everything upside down”.[1]

It survives as Italian mescere, Spanish mecer, Portuguese mexer and Romanian mește.[1] English mix is a back-formation from Middle English myxte, from the participle mixtus.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[2][6]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses the noun mixtūra.[2][6]
  • 1530s – English mix is recorded, from Middle English myxte “mingled”.[8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To mix, blend, mingle.[3][4]
  2. To compound, concoct.[3]
  3. To entwine, interlock.[3]
  4. To bring together (people); to unite, combine.[3][1]
  5. To throw into confusion, stir up.[1]

Word family

  • admisceō
  • commisceō
  • immisceō
  • immixtus
  • intermisceō
  • mixtārius
  • mixtim
  • mixtiō
  • mixtūra
  • obmisceō
  • permisceō
  • praemistus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com