Category: Word of the Day – M

ETYMOLOGY
from past participial stem of Latin mussitare (to mutter),
from mussare (to mutter) + –itare (-itate)

EXAMPLE
“…those I meane which are not Neutralizers (if any such heare mee this day) Neutralizers, I say, or Interim-ists; such as dare secretly mutter and mussitate; Rome and the Reformed Churches agree in the substance of Religion, that there is no fundamentall difference betwixt them and vs; and againe that they teach no Heresies; …”

From: A Sermon Preached at Paules Crosse Laying open the Beast, and his Marks
By Richard Sheldon, 1625

ETYMOLOGY
from mis- (wrong, unfavourably) + proud

EXAMPLE 1
“…Ȝyf a man haue mysdo or seyde,
And men hym blame for þat mysbreyde,
Ȝyf he susteynë hys mysdede,
And hys mysawe wyl nat drede,
Þat cumþ of mysprout herte and hy
Þat wyl nat knowe hys owne foly…”

From: Robert of Brunne’s “Handlyng Synne” (Harley MS)
By Robert Mannyng, a1400

EXAMPLE 2
“…It was in 1397, ninety years since the first assertion of Swiss independence, when Leopold the Handsome, Duke of Austria, a bold but misproud and violent prince, involved himself in one of the constant quarrels with the Swiss that were always arising on account of the insulting exactions of toll and tribute in the Austrian border cities…”

From: A Book of Golden Deeds of All Times and All Lands
By Charlotte Mary Yonge, 1864

ETYMOLOGY
from mimp (prim, precise, affected; also, n. a prim or affectedly modest woman)

EXAMPLE
“…It is not many people indeed I should praise so warmly; but as to all squeamish prudery in not speaking what one thinks, I’ve no notion of it, though I am so teased and so lectured by the old folks that I sit mimpetty mimp before them merely for peace sake; but I don’t see why one may not admire an handsome man as well as an handsome stature, or an handsome animal, or any thing else that is beautiful…”

From: The Young Philosopher: 
A Novel in Four Volumes
By Charlotte Smith, 1798

ETYMOLOGY
from Anglo-Norman meseisé, miseisé, mysesé (sick, unhappy, suffering, painful),
from mesaiser (misease, to trouble, to distress)

EXAMPLE 1
“…A lodlich musel he þouȝte al-so : and þe fouleste þat miȝte beo—
A Miseisiore man þane he þouȝte : no man ne miȝte iseo …”

From:
The early South-English legendary ; or, Lives of Saints
Edited by Carl Horstmann, 1887
Vita sancti Iuliani boni hospitis (The life of St. Julian the Hospitable). c1300

EXAMPLE 2
It had been a long, hard day, and I went to bed that night feeling miseasy and heart-sick.

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin masculus (male) + -ous

EXAMPLE
“…I doubt not but he will send a Copy of it to your L. and then it will speak for it self; believe me I never heard him do any thing like it, and so thinketh every one in the Synod; it was learned, devout, and the stile masculous …”

From: Golden Remains of the Ever Memorable, Mr. John Hales
By John Hales, 1659
Dr. Balcanquals Letters from the Synod of Dort, March, 1619

ETYMOLOGY
from Greek µῑκρός (small) + ὄνυµα (name), ὄνοµα, after synonymy, etc.

EXAMPLE
“…Astronomers have set an example in micronymy that anatomists might well fellow; the first asteroid discovered was named Ceres, and many of its successors have dissyllabic or, at most, trisyllabic names. This is the more noteworthy, because, in the first place, these bodies are not, and are hardly likely to become objects of popular discussion; and, secondly, each has its assigned numeric symbol, so that the professional astronomer need not employ the names at all. Now that the choice is offered, the anatomist who deliberately says aponeurosis for fascia, anfractuosity for fissure, and convolution for gyre, runs the risk of association, in the minds of others at least equally well-informed with the “penny-a-liner.” or the village orator who distinctly prefer conflagration to fire …”

From: A Reference Handbook of the Medical Sciences
Edited by Albert H. Buck, 1889

ETYMOLOGY
from malign (adj.), from Latin malignus (evil-disposed),
from malus (evil) + -gnus, from base of gignere (to beget, produce, devise)

EXAMPLE
“… for as by the bad is the good knowen, so by the sower is the sweete the better discerned, and by the darkenesse of the night may a man iudge the brightnesse of the day, in so much that I wholy perswade with my selfe that lightly your Honour will pardon my attempt, and fond presumption, in being bold vnder your honours patronage to shield me with defence against such carping, blustering, and malignious tongues, which not onely doo perillously shake at, yea, and indeuour mainely to beat downe, and confute not onely all kind of blossomes, and young budded fruites…”

From: Florio His Firste Fruites which yeelde Familiar Speech, Merie Prouerbes, Wittie Sentences, and Golden Sayings
By John Florio, 1578

ETYMOLOGY
from Mallie (= English Molly (a girl,. a woman)) + fuff (something easily blown about, a puff)

EXAMPLE
“…And what for should I not be early abroad if I have business? Am I like one of your windlestrae mallifuff madams that cannot stir from their arm-chair till they are drammed up with their green-tea?…”

From: Elizabeth de Bruce
By Christian Isobel Johnstone, 1827

ETYMOLOGY
from mutter (n.) + -ous

EXAMPLE
“…Lyke bees in summar season, through rustical hamlets
That flirt in soonbeams, and toyle with mutterus humbling.
When they do foorth carry theyre yoong swarme fledggie to gathring…”

From: Thee First Foure Bookes of Virgil his Aeneis
Translated intoo English by Richard Stanyhurst, 1582

ETYMOLOGY
from Latin mentionatus, pa. pple. of mentionare (to make mention of)

EXAMPLE
“…Ffinally,  in  my  moste  humble  wise,  eftsones  I thanke  your  Grace  for  your  singular  goodenes  afor mentionate  both  concernyng  me  and  also  the  Commons…”

From: Original Letters: Illustrative of English History
Edited by Henry Ellis, 1846
Letter CXXXI. Archbishop Warham to Cardinal Wolsey; c1525