meal English · revision 4951

+ Meal, food eaten at one time, and meal, ground grain, are different words.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /miːl/^(Roach et al. 2011)

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+ {{homograph|1|food}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 897|origins=gem-pro *mēlą}}

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+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|mele]], [[inh|ang|mǣl|t=appointed time, mealtime, meal]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[gem-pro|*mēlą|alt=*mēla-]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) the source also of Dutch maal “time; meal”, German Mal “time” and Mahl “meal”, Old Norse mál “measure, time, meal” and Gothic mēl “time”.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) It is from [[ine-pro|*meh₁-|alt=*me-|t=to measure]],^(Etymonline) and related to [[measure]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In Old English a measure (about 1000, now obsolete),^(OED 1989) and an occasion of taking food at a customary time: about 897 in the OED.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its first meaning “time” survives in ''piecemeal''.^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) German Mahlzeit and Welsh pryd show the same link between “time” and “meal”.^(Barnhart 1988) An occasion of eating, without reference to time, and the food eaten are from about 1200.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) ''To make a meal of'' meant to devour (1610),^(OED 1989) and later to make too much of something.^(Cresswell 2021) A ''meal ticket'' was a ticket to a dining hall by 1865, and a source of livelihood from 1899.^(Etymonline) ''Meals on wheels'' is from 1952 as a social service.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 897 – a customary meal.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1200 – food eaten at one time.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1610 – ''make a meal of''.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1899 – ''meal ticket'', a livelihood.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1952 – ''meals on wheels''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An occasion when food is eaten, such as [[breakfast]], [[lunch]] or [[dinner]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The food eaten on such an occasion.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

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+ {{homograph|2|ground grain}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 888|origins=ine-pro *melh₂-}}

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+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|mele]], [[inh|ang|melu]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[gem-pro|*melwą|alt=*melwan]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) literally “what is ground”, related to Old High German and Gothic malan “to grind”.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) It is from [[ine-pro|*melh₂-|alt=*mel-|t=to crush, grind]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) the root also of Latin molere “to grind”, Greek mýlē “mill”^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) and English [[mill]].^(Cresswell 2021)^(Hoad 1986)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The edible part of a grain or pulse ground to powder: about 888 in the OED, in Alfred's Boethius.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A powder made by grinding anything, as in ''linseed meal'', is from 1549.^(OED 1989) It is now commonly understood to exclude wheat, which is called [[flour]].^(Etymonline) ''Of the same meal'', of the same kind, is from 1611.^(OED 1989) ''Mealy'' is from 1533, in Elyot's Castel of Helth, and ''mealy-mouthed'', unwilling to speak plainly, from about 1572.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 888 – ground grain.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1533 – ''mealy''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1549 – any ground powder.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1572 – ''mealy-mouthed''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The edible part of a [[grain]] ground into a coarse powder.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Any powder made by grinding: ''bone meal''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[piecemeal]]

+ * [[measure]]

+ * [[mill]]

+ * [[molar]]

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+ ==Usage notes==

+ Two rarer words are an Old English meal, a tub or bucket (before 700), and an Orkney weight (1597).^(OED 1989)^(MWU 2024)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}