mere English · revision 7591

+ Three words are spelled mere: the adjective, from Latin merus, and two Old English nouns, a lake and a boundary.^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /mɪə/, US /mɪr/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ {{homograph|1|only}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1390|origins=la merus}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|xno|meer]], Old French mier, pure, entire, and directly Latin [[m|la|merus|t=unmixed, pure, bare]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(SOED 2002) probably originally clear, bright, from PIE *mer-, to gleam.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) De Vaan doubts that pure comes from shining and suggests a PIE *merH-o-, remaining, pure.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Pure, unmixed: about 1390;^(Barnhart 1988) of a voice, pure, clear, the late 14th century.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Absolute, sheer, nothing less than (''of mere malice''), is first recorded about 1443 and survives only in phrases such as ''mere folly''.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) The apparently opposite sense, nothing more than (''a mere dream''), is from 1581 (the 1580s),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) and the two existed side by side for centuries.^(Etymonline) Done without another's help is a 15th-century legal sense.^(Hoad 1986)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1390 – pure.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1443 – absolute, sheer.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1581 – nothing more than.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Being nothing more than what is said: ''a mere child''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Considered by itself alone.^(AHD)

+ # Small or slight.^(AHD)

+ # ''(archaic)'' [[pure|alt=Pure]]; unmixed.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[merely]]

+

+ {{homograph|2|lake}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=before 700|origins=ine-pro *mori-}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|ang|mere|t=sea, ocean; lake, pool]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) from Proto-Germanic *mari,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) source also of Old Norse marr, Dutch [[m|nl|meer|t=lake, sea]] and German [[m|de|Meer|t=sea]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from PIE [[ine-pro|*mori-|t=body of water]], also the source of Latin [[m|la|mare|t=sea]] (see [[marine]]).^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A lake or pond: before 700;^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) the sea, before 1000.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The sense sea, or arm of the sea, has been obsolete since Middle English.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) A marsh or fen is from the 13th century, now dialectal.^(OED 1989) The word is now chiefly poetic or dialectal, and frequent in place names;^(OED 1989) the Century Dictionary noted that it was not used in the United States except artificially in some local names.^(Etymonline) The EDD records it from Scotland to Derbyshire and Lincolnshire.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 700 – a lake.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * before 1000 – the sea (obsolete).^(OED 1989)

+ * 13th century – a marsh.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(chiefly British, poetic)'' A small [[lake]], [[pond]] or [[marsh]].^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ {{homograph|3|boundary}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 825|origins=gem-pro *mairją}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|ang|mǣre|t=boundary, a boundary mark]], ġemǣre,^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) from Proto-Germanic *mairjo-, source also of Middle Dutch mere, boundary mark, and Old Norse -mæri, borderland;^(Etymonline) Etymonline relates it to Latin [[m|la|murus|t=wall]] (see [[mural]]).^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A boundary, or an object marking one: about 825.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Once an important word, it now survives in provincial use and in place names.^(Etymonline) Merestone, a boundary stone, is Old English mǣrstān,^(Etymonline) and in Middle English the ''meres of erthe'' (about 1400) were the ends of the earth.^(Etymonline) A green balk or road serving as a boundary is from 1607,^(OED 1989) and in Derbyshire lead mining a measure of ground containing ore from 1653.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 825 – a boundary.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1400 – the ends of the earth.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1607 – a boundary road.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1653 – in lead mining.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(archaic, dialect)'' A [[boundary]] or boundary mark.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[marsh]]

+ * [[marine]]

+ * [[mermaid]]

+ * [[mural]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}