Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/255

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according to Lat. meus, mihi, Gr. μέ, Sans. ma, common to the Aryan division. Further details belong to grammar.

Meineid, m., ‘false oath, perjury,’ from the equiv. MidHG. meincit, OHG. meincid, m.; corresponding to OSax. mênêth, Du. meineed, AS. mânâþ, OIc. meineiðr, m., ‘perjury.’ It is the common Teut. word for ‘false oath’; only Goth. *main-aiþs is wanting. The first component is an adj. (or rather an adj. used as a subst.), MidHG. and OHG. mein, ‘false, deceitful,’ as masc. and neut. ‘falsity, injustice, outrage.’ In MidHG. ein meiner was also used for ein meineit; comp. OSax. mên, AS. mân, m., ‘falsity, crime, outrage,’ OIc. mein, n. ‘damage, injury, misfortune’ (allied to meinn, adj., ‘hurtful’). ModHG. gemein Goth. gamains) does not seem to be directly akin, although MidHG. mein, ‘outrage,’ may have been the source of the bad sense attached to the modern word. They are, however, finally connected with Slav. words for Tausch, ‘exchange’ (comp. Tausch and. täuschen), Lith. maínas, ‘exchange,’ OSlov. měna, ‘change, alteration’ (Lett. nút, ‘to exchange’). In that case Lat. commûnis and Goth. gamains (see gemein) would mean lit. ‘being on a footing cf barter.’ It is probably not related to Lat. mentîri.

meinen, vb., ‘to think, opine, mean,’ from MidHG. meinen, ‘to direct one's thoughts to, have in view, aim at, be affected towards a person, love,’ OHG. meinen, meinan, ‘to mean, think, say, declare’; comp. OSax. mênian, Du. meenen, AS. mœ̂nan, E. to mean (to this AS. mœ̂nan, E. to moan, are supposed to be allied); Goth. *mainjan is wanting. The most closely allied term is OSlov. měnja, měniti, ‘to mean.’ The latter, as well as West Teut. meinen (assuming mainjan from mênjan)'is usually rightly connected with the man, ‘to think’ (comp. mahnen, Mann, and Minne). The meaning ‘to love’ appears only in MidHG., but with the revival of MidHG. literature it has been introduced into ModHG. poetry. —

Meinung, f., ‘opinion, meaning,’ from MidHG. meinung, OHG. meinunga, f., ‘thought, disposition, view.’

Meisch, m., Meische, f., ‘mash,’ from MidHG. meisch, m., ‘grape mash,’ also ‘mead, drink mixed with honey’; allied to E. mash, which by chance not recorded in AS. and MidE. It is very likely related

by gradation to mischen, if the latter, as is probable, is a genuine Teut. word; comp. MidE. mâschien and the equiv. E. to mash. With this agrees the further assumption that MidHG. meisch, ‘mead,’ is primit. allied to OSlov. mězga, ‘tree-juice’ (for OSlov. zg, equiv. to Teut. sk, see mischen and Masche).

Meise, f., ‘titmouse,’ from the equiv. MidHG. meise, OHG. meisa, f.; comp. Du. mees, AS. mâse (E. only in titmouse, a corruption of tit-moase; AS. â is equiv. to E. oa); OIc. meisingr, m., with a suffix ‘titmouse.’ A term peculiar to Teut., which passed also into Fr. (Fr. mésange, ‘titmouse,’ formed from Scand. meisingr?); origin obscure. Only a few names of birds can be traced beyond the Teut. group (comp. Aar, Drossel, Specht, and Kranich).

meist, adj. and adv., ‘most, mostly,’ from MidHG. meist, adj., ‘greatest, most,’ adv., ‘mostly, at best, very specially’ (a superl. of the compar. mehr, MidHG. mêr); comp. OHG. meist, Goth. maists, from the OHG. posit. mihhil, Goth. mikils, ‘great.’ Goth. ma-ists has the old superl. suffix ist like Goth. bat-ists, OHG. beȥȥ-ist; from the stem ma- the Goth. compar. ma-iza is also formed. The forms of comparison seemed to be based on the Goth. adject. stem mêrs, OHG. mâ-ri, ‘projecting.’ Comp. also OSax. mêst, Du. meest, AS. mœ̂st (mâst), E. most.

Meister, m., ‘master, chief, leader,’ from MidHG. meister, m., ‘learned poet, meister-sänger (poets who were members of guilds), mayor, burgomaster,’ OHG. meistar; OSax. mêstar, Du. meester, AS. mœgster. Borrowed from Lat. magister, which in MidLat. was applied to numerous offices. Comp. further Ital. maestro, Fr. maître, E. master, mister.

Meißel, m., ‘chisel,’ from MidHG. meiȥel, OHG. meiȥil, m., ‘chisel, tool for dressing and chipping’; allied to OHG. meiȥan, MidHG. meiȥen, ‘to hew, cut,’ Goth. maitan, ‘to hew, hew off’; thus too OIc. meitell, m., ‘chisel,’ allied to meita, ‘to cut.’ All these belong to a Teut. root mat, ‘to hew,’ which has been connected with the Teut. root mat, ‘to hew,’ in Metze (Steinmetze). Comp. also E. mattock.

Melde (Bav. molten), f., ‘orache’ (a plant), from the equiv. MidHG. and MidLG. mëlde, and with a different gradation mulde, molte, f., OHG. mola, mulda (muolhta is incorrectly written for molta), f.; of