moes

Forms

moes f or n (uncountable, no diminutive)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle Dutch moes, inherited from Old Dutch muos, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *mōs, inherited from Proto-Germanic *mōsa- (“mushy food”).^[2][1][3] The same word is Old Saxon mōs “food”, Old High German muos “food, meal, porridge, soup” (modern German Mus “purée” and Gemüse “vegetables”), Old Frisian mōs and Old English mōs “food”.^[2][3]

The EWN derives it from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂d-to- or *meh₂d-so-, first assimilated to Proto-Germanic *mōssa- and then with the consonant shortened after the long vowel.^[2] This root stands in ablaut with *mh₂d- (“to become wet, to drip”), which also gave Proto-Germanic *mata-, *mati- “food”, found in mes, metworst, English meat and Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐍄𐍃 (mats, “food”).^[2][4][5] Related words outside Germanic are Latin madeō (“to be wet”) and Ancient Greek μαδαρός (madarós, “moist”).^[2][6]

An older explanation from the root Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to measure”), as if the word meant “allotted food”, the share in a sacrificial meal, is thought unlikely by the EWN, since it lacks the notion of moisture that the meanings of ⟨moes⟩ share;^[2][6][7] Van Haeringen calls it no more than a loose guess.^[2][6][7] Wiktionary notes that Kroonen separates the Germanic food words from the root for “wet” and links them instead with Ancient Greek μεστός (mestós, “full”), from a separate root ⟨*med-⟩ “to satiate”.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old Dutch muos is first recorded in the Wachtendonck Psalms of the 10th century, meaning “food”: in gauon an muos min galla “and they put gall into my food”.^[2][8][9] A Ghent text of 1176 already uses it for a portion of food, unum mosum casei “a portion of cheese”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The general sense “food” narrowed in Dutch and German to food that was finely chopped or cooked soft, especially from plants or meal, and then to the plants themselves.^[2] Middle Dutch moes is porridge or pap from 1265, often as the food of the poor, and warm cooked greens;^[10][11] Kiliaan still records the old sense “food” as obsolete.^[10][11] From 1477 it also meant vegetables as a crop.^[2]

In the 17th century moes was a dish of chopped stewed greens (1608), a fruit purée, and vegetables in general (1621), a sense that is now obsolete but survives in compounds such as moestuin “kitchen garden” (1642, as a simplex 1720) and the old word warmoes.^[12][2] In the Saxon east of the Netherlands moes meant cabbage or kale.^[12] Figuratively it is a crushed mass, as in being beaten to a pulp (1824).^[12][13]

Dutch or Low German lent the word to Danish, Norwegian and Swedish mos “mash, purée”, and to Estonian moos “purée, jam”;^[14] Swedish passed it to Finnish muusi.^[14]

Timeline

• 901–1000 – Old Dutch muos “food” appears in the Wachtendonck Psalms.^[2][8][9]
• 1176 – A Ghent text uses it for a portion of food.^[8]
• 1265 – Middle Dutch moes “pap, porridge” is first recorded, in western Brabant.^[10][2]
• 1477 – Moes is used for vegetables as a crop.^[2]
• 1573 – Alreley moes van meel “all kinds of pap made of meal” is recorded.^[12]
• 1621 – Moesen is used for vegetables.^[12]
• 1642 – The compound moestuinluiden “market gardeners” is recorded.^[2]
• 1720 – Moestuin “kitchen garden” is recorded on its own.^[2]
• 1824 – Moes is used figuratively for something crushed.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A purée or mash of finely chopped or boiled vegetables or fruit.^[15][13][1]
2. (dated) Vegetables, plants grown for food.^[15][12][16]

Word family

• mengelmoes
• appelmoes
• heermoes
• moestuin

Related words

• mes
• metworst
• German Mus

Usage notes

Iemand tot moes slaan is to beat someone to a pulp.^[13][15]

Several other words are spelled moes.^[12][1][17] In children's language and colloquially moes, mostly in the diminutive moesje, means “mum”; the Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal lists it with moe as a form of moeder.^[12][13][1] In East Flanders and Zeeland moes is a ship's boy, from French mousse.^[17][18] In Maastricht moes is the local word for muis “mouse”.^[19]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Philippa, Marlies; Debrabandere, Frans; Quak, Arend; Schoonheim, Tanneke; Sijs, Nicoline van der (2003–2009), Etymologisch woordenboek van het Nederlands, 4 vols., Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press; online via etymologiebank.nl
3. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
4. ^ Veen, P. A. F. van; Sijs, Nicoline van der (1997), Etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van onze woorden, 2nd ed., Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Lexicografie
5. ^ Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 252
6. ^ a b c Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b Haeringen, C. B. van (1936), Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal: Supplement, 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
8. ^ a b c d Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org
9. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
10. ^ a b c Pijnenburg, W. J. J., et al. (2001), Vroegmiddelnederlands woordenboek: woordenboek van het Nederlands van de dertiende eeuw in hoofdzaak op basis van het Corpus-Gysseling, Leiden: Instituut voor Nederlandse Lexicologie; gtb.ivdnt.org
11. ^ a b Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i Vries, Matthias de; Winkel, L. A. te, et al. (1882–1998), Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal, 29 vols., 's-Gravenhage / Leiden: Nijhoff / Sijthoff / SDU; supplement 2001; gtb.ivdnt.org
13. ^ a b c d Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
14. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
15. ^ a b c Algemeen Nederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; anw.ivdnt.org
16. ^ WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org
17. ^ a b Debrabandere, Frans (2005), Oost-Vlaams en Zeeuws-Vlaams etymologisch woordenboek, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Atlas
18. ^ Debrabandere, Frans (2007), Zeeuws etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van de Zeeuwse woorden, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Atlas
19. ^ Aarts, Flor (2017), Etymologisch dictionairke vaan 't Mestreechs, Maastricht