An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Meile

by Friedrich Kluge

Meile, f. (rare in Suab. and Bav.), ‘mile’ (about five E. miles), from the equiv. MidHG. mîle, OHG. mîla, mîlla (for mîlja), f.; corresponding to Du. mijl, AS. mîl, E. mile, Scand. míla, f., ‘mile’; from Lat. mîlia (passuum), ‘thousand paces,’ whence also Ital. miglia, Fr. mille. It prop. denotes ‘a measure of a thousand paces (sing. mille passuum).’ The more frequent plur. mîlia was adopted in Rom. and G., chiefly as a fem. sing., without the addition of passuum (Ital. formed the sing. miglio, ‘mile,’ from the plur. miglia). The word was borrowed in the first cent. contemporaneously with Straße (Ital. lega, Fr. lieue, ‘league,’ a later word of Kelt. origin, was never adopted in G.).