mall English · revision 6181

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=clipping|attested=1644|origins=la malleus, it palla}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /mɔːl/, /mæl/, US /mɔːl/, /mɑːl/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a shortening of [[pall-mall]],^(MWU 2024)^(NODE 1998)^(Barnhart 1988) the game and the alley it was played in, from obsolete French [[m|fr|pallemaille]], from Italian [[m|it|pallamaglio]], from [[m|it|palla|t=ball]] and [[m|it|maglio|t=mallet]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) from [[la|malleus|t=hammer]] (see [[maul]] and [[mallet]]),^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) from PIE [[ine-pro|*melh₂-|t=to crush, grind]].^(Etymonline) It was reinforced by French [[m|fr|mail]], from Old French [[m|fro|mail]], maul.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The game of pall-mall: 1646;^(OED 1989) the alley in which it was played: 1644.^(OED 1989) The mallet used in the game is from 1662.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The Mall, a broad tree-lined promenade in St James's Park, London, was so called from the 1670s (earlier Maill, 1640s), because it had been an alley for pall-mall,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)^(NODE 1998) and London's street [[Pall Mall]] began as a pall-mall too.^(Cresswell 2021) From it, a sheltered public walk was called a mall from 1737,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) and in some towns the name was adopted for a street.^(OED 1989) A street set aside for pedestrians is from 1951, a mall for shopping from 1950 in the United States in Word Origins,^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) and the modern enclosed shopping gallery from 1962 in Etymonline;^(Etymonline) Victor Gruen's Northland Center (1954), in Michigan, is often credited as the first modern shopping mall.^(Etymonline) ''Mall rat'', someone who hangs around malls, is from 1985.^(Etymonline) In Washington, D.C., the Mall is the park between the Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial.^(AHD)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1644 – a pall-mall alley.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1662 – the mallet used in the game.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1670s – The Mall in St James's Park.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1737 – a public promenade.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1950 – a mall for shopping.^(Cresswell 2021)

+ * 1962 – an enclosed shopping centre.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1985 – mall rat.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A large, usually enclosed [[shopping centre]] with shops reached by common walkways.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A street lined with shops and closed to traffic.^(AHD)

+ # A shady public walk or [[promenade]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(US)'' A grassy strip dividing a road; a [[median]].^(AHD)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[pall-mall]]

+ * [[shopping mall]]

+ * [[strip mall]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[maul]]

+ * [[mallet]]

+ * [[malleable]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The CEPD notes that the pronunciation /mɔːl/ for a shopping arcade seems to have come into British English from American, despite some resistance from those who prefer /mæl/;^(Roach et al. 2011) The Mall in London is /mæl/.^(Roach et al. 2011)^(OED 1989) Mall is also an old spelling of [[maul]], a heavy hammer, still used in Worcestershire and Shropshire dialect.^(SOED 2002)^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}