英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

million [million 词源字典]: million: see mile
[million etymology, million origin, 英语词源]
mime: mime: [17] Greek mimos meant ‘imitator’, and hence ‘actor’. English took it over via Latin mīmus, and lost no time in turning it into a verb. The derived Greek adjective mīmikós has given English mimic [16], and other related forms include mimeograph [19], so called because it copies things, and mimosa [18], named from its tendency to curl up when touched, as if in ‘imitation’ of animal behaviour. The compound pantomime means etymologically ‘complete mime’.
=> mimeograph, mimosa, pantomime
mince: mince: [14] Etymologically, to mince something is to make it extremely ‘small’. The word comes via Old French mincier from Vulgar Latin *minūtiāre, a derivative of Latin minūtia ‘small thing’. This in turn was based on minūtus ‘small’, source of English minute.
=> minute
mind: mind: [12] Mind is a member of a large and diverse family of English words (including mandarin, mathematics, memory, and reminisce) that go back ultimately to the Indo-European base *men- ‘think’. Amongst its other descendants were Latin mēns ‘mind’, source of English mental [15], and prehistoric Germanic *gamunthiz (formed with the collective prefix *ga-).

This passed into Old English as gemynd, but its prefix was dropped in the early Middle English period, giving modern English mind. Historically, ‘memory’ has been as important an element in the word’s meaning as ‘mental faculty’, but it now survives mainly in the derived verb remind.
=> mandarin, mathematics, memory, mental, reminisce
mine: mine: English has two quite distinct words mine. The first person possessive pronoun [OE] goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *mīnaz (source also of German mein, Dutch mijn, and Swedish and Danish min), which was derived from the same Indo-European source as produced English me. Originally it was an adjective, but in the 13th century the -n was dropped before consonants, and eventually the resulting my took over the adjective slot altogether, leaving mine as a pronoun only. Mine ‘excavation’ [14] is of uncertain origin.

It comes via Old French from an assumed Vulgar Latin *mina, which may go back ultimately to a Celtic *meini- ‘ore’ (Gaelic has mein ‘ore, mine’ and Welsh mwyn ‘ore’). The use of the word for an ‘explosive device’, which dates from the 17th century, arose from the practice of digging tunnels or ‘mines’ beneath enemy positions and then blowing them up.
=> me, my
mineral: mineral: [15] A mineral is etymologically something obtained by ‘mining’. The word comes from medieval Latin minerāle, a derivative of the adjective minerālis. This in turn was derived from minera ‘ore’, a latinization of Old French miniere. And miniere itself came from Vulgar Latin *mināria, a derivative of *mina – source of English mine.
=> mine
mingle: mingle: see among
miniature: miniature: [16] ‘Smallness’ is a purely secondary semantic development as far as miniature is concerned, inspired by its accidental similarity to the min- element of words like minimum and minute. It in fact comes ultimately from Latin minium ‘red lead’. Red lead was used in ancient and medieval times for making a sort of red ink with which manuscripts were decorated, and so the derived medieval Latin verb miniāre was coined for ‘illuminate a manuscript’.

Italian took this over as miniare, and derived miniatura ‘painting, illustrating’ from it. It referred particularly to the small paintings in manuscripts, and when English borrowed it as miniature it was soon broadened out to any ‘small image’. Association with minute, etc led by the early 18th century to its adjectival use for ‘small’.
minimum: minimum: see minute
minister: minister: [13] Etymologically, a minister is a person of ‘lower’ status, a ‘servant’. The word goes back via Old French ministre to Latin minister ‘servant, attendant’, which was derived from minus ‘less’. It retained this meaning when it arrived in English, and indeed it still survives in the verb minister. But already by the Middle Ages a specialized application to a ‘church functionary’ had developed, and in the 16th century this hardened into the present-day ‘clergyman’.

The political sense of the word developed in the 17th century, from the notion of a ‘servant’ of the crown. Derivatives from other languages to have established themselves in English include métier [18], which came via French from Vulgar Latin *misterium, an alteration of Latin ministerium ‘service’ (source of English ministry [14]), and minstrel.

And etymologically, minister is the antonym of master, whose Latin ancestor was based on magis ‘more’.
=> métier, minstrel, minus
minor: minor: [13] Latin minor ‘less’ was a comparative form based on the element min- ‘small’ (source of English minute and a whole range of other ‘small’-words). The noun derived from it, minus ‘less’, was taken over by English in the 15th century.
=> minute
minster: minster: see monk
minstrel: minstrel: [13] Originally minstrel, like its close relative minister, denoted a ‘servant’. Its musical associations are a comparatively recent development. It goes back ultimately to late Latin ministeriālis ‘official’, a derivative of Latin ministerium (source of English ministry). Old French took it over as menestral, and it was here that a gradual specialization in meaning took place, from ‘servant’ via ‘entertainer’ to ‘singer’.
=> minister
mint: mint: [OE] English has two completely unconnected words mint. The ‘money factory’ comes ultimately from Latin monēta ‘mint, money’ (source also of English money). It was borrowed into prehistoric West Germanic as *munita, which in due course produced Old English mynet. This denoted ‘coin’ (as its modern German relative münze still does), and it was not until the 15th century that the modern sense ‘place where money is made’ emerged. Mint the plant originated in Greek mínthē, and reached English via Latin mentha (source of menthol [19], a German coinage) and prehistoric West Germanic *minta.
=> money; menthol
minute: minute: [14] Latin minūtus ‘small’ was a derivative of the verb minuere ‘lessen’ (source of English diminish), which itself was based on the element min- ‘small’. In medieval Latin the term pars minuta prima ‘first small part’ was applied to a ‘sixtieth part of a whole’ – originally of a circle, later of an hour (likewise a second was originally a secunda minuta, a sixtieth of a sixtieth).

Hence minūta itself came to be used for the unit of time, and that was the original meaning of minute when English acquired it via Old French. Its use for ‘note, record’ may derive from the Latin expression minuta scriptura, which denoted the writing of a rough draft in ‘small’ writing. The adjective minute ‘small’ was an independent 15th-century borrowing direct from Latin.

A French descendant of minūtus is the adjective menu ‘small’; its extended sense ‘detailed’ has led to its noun use for ‘list’, and the expression menu de repas ‘meal list’ has given English menu [19]. Other members of the extended family of English words that come ultimately from Latin min- include métier, mince, minim [15], minimum [17], minister, minor, minstrel, minuet [17], minus, minuscule [18], and minutia [15].
=> menu, métier, mince, minister, minor, minstrel, minus, minuscule
mirror: mirror: [13] Mirror belongs to a small family of English words which illustrate how a Latin term originally signifying ‘wonder at’ weakened (presumably via ‘stare in wonder at’) to ‘look at’. Etymologically, a mirror is something you ‘look at’ yourself in. The word comes via Old French mirour from Vulgar Latin *mīrātōrium, a derivative of *mirāre ‘look at’.

This was closely related to classical Latin mīrārī ‘wonder at’ (a derivative of mīrus ‘wonderful’), which passed into Old French as mirer ‘look at’, source of English mirage [19]. Based on mīrārī were Latin mīrābilis ‘wonderful’ (source of English marvel [13]) and mīrāculum ‘something to be wondered at’ (source of English miracle [12]).
=> marvel, miracle, mirage
mirth: mirth: see merry
miscegenation: miscegenation: see mix
miscellaneous: miscellaneous: see mix
mischief: mischief: [13] Etymologically, mischief is something that ‘happens amiss’. The word comes from Old French meschef, a derivative of the verb meschever ‘meet with misfortune’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix mis- ‘wrongly, amiss’ and chever ‘happen’ (which came ultimately from Latin caput ‘head’, and etymologically meant ‘come to a head’). It still meant ‘misfortune’ when English acquired it; in the 14th century the sense ‘harm, damage’ emerged, but the more trivial modern sense ‘naughtiness’ did not develop until the 18th century.