Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/261

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from the equiv. Lat. viscus, and scarcely allied to E. mist (see Mist). Origin obscure.

mit, prep. and adv., from the equiv. MidHG. and OHG. mit, prep., ‘with,’ and the MidHG. adv. mite, OHG. miti; corresponding to Goth. miþ, mid, adv. and prep., ‘with,’ AS. mid, obsolete in E. (except in midwife). Teut. mid, earlier midi, represents, according to the permutation of consonants, pre-Teut. miti or meti, and hence is allied to Gr. μετὰ, Zend maṭ, ‘with,’ It might also be connected with the cognates discussed under mitz, meaning ‘reciprocal.’

Mittag, m., ‘midday, noon, south,’ from mitt and Tag. Comp. MidHG. mettetac, OHG. mittitag.

mitte, adj., obsolete as an independent word, but preserved in derivatives; MidHG. mitte, OHG. mitti, adj., ‘medius’; comp. AS. midd, preserved in E. only in midriff, AS. mid-hrif (hrif, ‘body,’ Lat. corpus), E. midnight, mid-Lent, midland, midwinter, &c., and in the derivatives midst, middle, &c.; Goth. midjis, ‘medius.’ It is a common Teut. and Aryan adj., pre-historic médhyo-s; comp. Sans. mádhyas, Gr. μέσος for *μέϑjος, Lat. medius, OSlov. mežda, f. (from medja), ‘middle.’ — Mittag, ‘mid-day,’ Mittfasten, ‘mid-Lent,’ Mittwoch, ‘Wednesday’; Mitternacht, ‘midnight,’ is prop. a dat. sing., originating in MidHG. ze mitter naht, OHG. zi mitteru naht, its frequent locative use (in this case to denote time when) becoming predominant as it did in names of places (e.g. Baden, prop. dat. plur., originated in MidHG. ze Baden, ‘at the baths,’ Sachsen, dat. plur., MidHG. ze Sahsen, ‘in Saxony,’ lit. ‘among the Saxons’). In MidHG., however, mitnaht was also used for OHG. mittinaht. —

Mitte, f., ‘middle,’ from MidHG. mitte, OHG. mittî, f., an abstract form of the adj. Comp. the following article.

mittel, adj., ‘middle, interior,’ from MidHG. mittel, OHG. mittil, adj., ‘medius, situated in the middle’; AS. middel, E. middle, adj., a derivative of OTeut. miðja-, ‘middle,’ discussed under mitte; the orig. form of this derivative was Goth. *midala-, authenticated by OHG. mëtal, adj., ‘middle.’ —

Mittel, n., ‘middle, means, resource,’ from MidHG. mittel, n., ‘middle, centre, something intermediate, means,’ an adj. used as a subst.; comp. AS. middel, E. middle. Preposit. derivatives mittels, mittelst. Comp. mitte.

Moder, m., ‘mud, mould, decay,’ from

late MidHG. (MidG.) moder, m., ‘body that has been decomposed, decay, bog, moor’; comp. Du. modder, ‘slime,’ E. mother, ‘slimy substance’ (espec. in vinegar), Du. moer, ‘yeast, lees.’ The entire class has become current only in the modern languages; comp. the corresponding MidG. mot, ‘moor, morass, marsh,’ MidE. mudde, E. mud. The early history of the cognates is obscure; Gr. μυδών, ‘fungous flesh,’ on account of its permutation does not belong to the cognates.

mögen, vb., ‘to like, choose; may,’ from MidHG. mugen, mügen, OHG. mugan, earlier magan, pret. pres., ‘to be able, have power,’ Goth. magan; a common Teut. pret. pres. with the OHG. and MidHG. meaning, ‘to be able, have power,’ as it appears in the ModHG. abstract form Macht, and in the compound vermögen; AS. mœg (plur. magon, pret. mihte), whence E. may (pret. might). The Teut. stem, mag (mug), from pre-Teut. magh, is most closely allied to OSlov. mogą, mošti, ‘to be able, have power.’

Mohn, m., from the equiv. late MidHG. mân, earlier mâhen, m., ‘poppy’; OHG. *mâhan is wanting, for which OHG. mâgo, MidHG. mâge, m., ‘poppy,’ with a change of h to g (see fragen and Zähre), is used (comp. Goth. þahan with OHG. dagên, Lat. tacere); to this UpG. mâgsame (Alsat. mâss), ‘poppy,’ is allied. It corresponds to OSwed. valmughi, Swed. vallmo, ‘poppy.’ The word points to pre-Teut. mêkon-, besides which the form mâkon- is presupposed by Gr. μήκων (Dor. μᾶκων), OSlov. makŭ, ‘poppy.’ These correspondences, however, do not necessarily imply that the cognates are of genuine Aryan origin (comp. Hanf). For OHG. mâgo a form popig (E. poppy) was used in AS., based on Lat. papaver.

Mohr, m., ‘Moor,’ from MidHG. and OHG. môr, m.; derived from MidLat. Maurus, whence also Fr. More, Ital. and Span. Moro.

Möhre, f. (not current in Suab. and Bav.), from the equiv. MidHG. mörhe, also more, morhe, f., OHG. moraha, morha, ‘carrot’; a non-mutated form occurs in ModHG. Mohrrübe; Goth. *maúrhô may be also assumned from AS. moru (for *morhu), f., and more, f., E. (dial.) more, ‘turnip.’ For a derivative of these cognates see under Morchel. From OTeut. morhô-n-, ‘carrot,’ Slov. mrkva and Russ. morkovĭ (prim. Slav. *mrŭky) seem to be derived.