Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/258

---

Mette, f., ‘matins,’ from MidHG. mętten, męttene, męttî, męttîn, f., ‘early mass,’ late OHG. męttîua, mattîna, f.; from MidLat. mattîna for matutîna hora (hence also OIr. maten). From Lat. matutînum are derived Fr. matin (matines), and Ital. mattino. Comp. Messe, None, and Vesper.

Mettwurst, f., ‘pork sausage,’ ModHG. only, from the equiv. LG. metwurst, lit. ‘food sausage,’ allied to LG. met, ‘minced meat,’ OSax. męti, Goth. mats, ‘food.’ See Messer.

Metze (1.), m., from the equiv. MidHG. steinmętze, OHG. steinmęzzo, m., ‘stone cutter’; also once in OHG. steinmeizzo, which is clearly connected with OHG. meiȥȥan, ‘to hew,’ mentioned under Meißel. But whether OHG. steinmęzzo originated in steinmeizzo, or whether Metze, Goth. *matja (comp. Fr. maçon, ‘mason, bricklayer’) is connected with the root mat, ‘to hew’ (AS. and E. mattock), remains obscure.

Metze (2.), f., ‘corn measure, peck,’ from MidHG. mëzze, OHG. mëzzo, m., ‘small dry measure.’ Teut. ë results from the Bav. and Alem. pronunciation. This word, like Goth. mitaþs, ‘measure’ (about 18 bush.), is connected with the Teut. root met, ‘to measure’; AS. mitta, ‘corn measure,’ is also equiv. to OHG. mëzzo. The masc. is still the gender in UpG., the fem. seems to be of MidG. and LG. origin. To the pre-Teut. root mod (med) belongs Lat. modius, ‘peck,’ which (see Pfund and Münze) before the OHG. period passed into West Teut.; comp. OSax. muddi, OHG. mutti, MidHG. mütte, ‘bushel.’

Metze (3.) f., ‘prostitute,’ from MidHG. metze, f., which is “literally a pet name for Mathilda, then ‘a girl of the lower class,’ often with the accessory notion of a loose life.” For other abbreviated forms with the suffix tz or z used as pet names, comp. Fritz and Kunz.

Metzger, m., from the equiv. MidHG. mętzjœre, mętzjer, m., ‘butcher.’ Adopted in the MidHG. period from MidLat.; at least no better explanation can be found than the derivation from MidLat. macellarius, from which, through the medium of mazil-, OHG. *męzijâri, with a G. accent and mutation, would be evolved. Allied to MidLat. macellum, ‘shambles,’ macellarius, ‘qui carnem in macello vendit’; yet the change of ll into j is not clear, therefore a MidLat. *macearius (OHG. *mezzigâri) has been assumed. From Mid

Lat. macellarius were derived MidHG. mętzler, OHG. męzzilâri, ‘pork-butcher.’

meuchel-, derived, as the first part of a compound, from MidHG. miuchel-, ‘secret.’ Earlier ModHG. Meuchler, from the equiv. MidHG. miuchelœre, miucheler, late OHG. mûhhilâri, m., ‘plotter, assassin.’ Allied to MidHG. miuchelingen, ‘insidiously, like an assassin’; OHG. mühhilswërt, ‘assassin's sword, sword for assassination'; OHG. mûhhari, mûhho, mûhheo, ‘brigand, footpad’; also mûhhen, mûhhôn, ‘to attack from an ambush'; MidHG. vermûchen, ‘to get out of the way secretly, conceal,’ and MidHG. mocken, ‘to lie hidden’; further E. dial. to mitch (AS. *mŷčan), ‘to he hidden,’ MidE. micher, ‘thief.’ The entire class points to a Teut. root mûk, ‘to lurk in ambush with weapons’; a pre-Teut. root mûg appears in Kelt.; comp. OIr. formúicthe, formúichthai, ‘absconditus,’ formúichdetu, ‘occultatio.’ Since these words well accord in meaning with the HG. cognates, Goth. *muks, OIc. mjúkr, E. meek (to which Du. meuk, ‘mellow, ripe’ is allied), cannot be associated with them, since their meaning does not correspond to that of the class under discussion. See mucken and munkeln.

Meute (1.), f., first occurs in early ModHG. from the equiv. Fr. meute, f., ‘pack of hounds.’

Meute (2.), Meuterei, f., first occurs in early ModHG. from the equiv. Fr. meute, ‘mutiny, riot.’

mich, see mein.

Mieder, n., ‘bodice, corset’ (with MidHG. and UpG. i instead of ü, MidHG. üe); from MidHG. müeder, muoder, n., lit. ‘body, bodily form, skin, article of dress enveloping the upper part of the body, stays, bodice, vest,’ OHG. muodar, ‘alvus, belly of a snake’; comp. OLG. mûder, OFris. môther, ‘breast bandage’ (worn by women); Goth., AS., and OIc. *môþr are wanting. The various meanings are specially ascribed to the relation of Leib, ‘body,’ to Leibchen, ‘stays.’ The word has also been connected further with Gr. μήτρα, ‘‘womb,’ as well as with Lat. mâtrix; this leads to its kinship with the cognates of Mutter.

Miene, f., ‘mien, look, bearing,’ ModHG. only, from Fr. mine.

Mies, see Mos.

Miete, f., ‘pay, hire, rent,’ from MidHG. miete, OHG. mieta, miata, earlier méta, f., ‘payment, wages'; the orig. form is