Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/259

Mie preserved by mizdô, ‘reward,’ the z of which, however, by the lengthening of the ĭ to ê has been lost in ;  mêta,  méda,  méd (once with the normal change of s into r, meord),  meed. mizdô, from pre- mizdhdâ, is allied to  μσθός, ‘wages, hire,’  mǐzda,, ‘wages,’ Zend mîžda, , ‘wages,’  mîdhá (for miždhá), ‘contest, match, booty’ ( sense probably ‘prize,’ by inference from the   mîdhvás, ‘distributing lavishly’). Hence the Aryan form of the cognates is mizdho-, mizdhâ-,  meaning ‘wages, prize.’   ,, ‘pussy,’ only; it is either the modern  pet name for , ‘Mary,’ just as , the pet name for the tom-cat, is connected with , ‘Henry,’ or it is a recent onomatopoetic form like the phonetically cognate Ital micio, and the corresponding  class. The, , are also onomatopoetic forme.   ,, from the  milwe,  milwa, miliwa, , ‘mite, moth’;  *milwjô, or rather *milwi, , are wanting. To this malô,, ‘moth,’ and  mǫlr, ‘moth,’ are allied. These terms are derived from the root mel, mal, ‘to grind’;, malô, ‘the grinding (i.e., producing dust or meal) insect’; to the same root  molĭ, ‘moth,’ also belongs.   ,, from the  milch,  miluh, , ‘milk’; the common  term for ‘milk’;   miluks. , mjólkr,,  meoluc, milc, ,  milk,  melk,  miluk. The direct connection of the cognates. with the root melk in is indubitable. It is remarkable, however, that a common Aryan, or at least a West Aryan term for ‘milk’ is wanting, although the root melg, melk, ‘to milk,’ occurs in all the West Aryan languages. γάλα (stem γάλακτ-), lac (stem lact-), cannot be connected with the root melg, and  mlěko (from *melko) with its  cognates must have been borrowed from the  word, since in a  allied word we should have expected a g instead of the k.  ',, ‘mild, meek, gentle,’ from milte, ‘friendly, kind, liberal, gracious,’  mil'i;   mildi,  milde,  mild,  mildeis (hardly *milds''), , ‘loving, mild’; a common    of disputed origin. A word corresponding exactly in sound does not occur in the cognate languages. mollis, if it represents *molvis, *moldvis (like suâvis for *suâdvis; ); might with  *mildu-, ‘mild,’ belong to the root mol, ‘to grind,’ with which also  mláith ( form mlâti-), ‘soft, gentle,’ or  meldach, ‘pleasant,’ is connected.  ,, ‘milt, spleen,’ from the  milze,  milzi, ; from the  form are derived the  cognates,  milza,  melsa, ‘spleen.’ Corresponding forms are found in  milte, ,  milte,  and ;  milt and  milt signify both ‘spleen’ and ‘soft roe.’ The cognates are probably connected with the  root melt (see ), ‘to soften, melt,’ “with respect to the properties ascribed to the spleen of manufacturing, decomposing, and liquefying the various humours of the body.” The term  is found in  only; so too , , , , , &c. The names of other parts of the body, such as, , , , , have, however, a history that can be traced farther back.  , of  and, ‘less, inferior, lower’; from  minre, minner,  minniro,  of luzzil, ‘little, small.’ To this is allied the  and   min (like baȥ allied to bęȥȥiro). A common  formed like  minniza,. , mins, min; the corresponding  is  minnists,  minnist,  minnest, , with the d of the  which has been evolved in  between the n and r; the positive is wanting, as in the ease of , , , &c. Since in these cognates, as in, has originated in nw for nu, the word is based on the - verbal stem minu-, whence also  minor, minimus;   minuere,  μυύω;  mĭnij, ‘minor,’  μίνυ-νθα, ‘a little while.’ The oldest form of the root is Aryan mî (mī̆), with the  stems mĭnâ- and mĭnu-, ‘to lessen, shorten,’ of which the  would be *mẽymas ( to  μείων);  also  μειόω, ‘to diminish.’  ,, reintroduced in the latter half of the 18th on the revival of  studies, from the   minne, , ‘love,’ which became obsolete in the transition from  to ;  minna, ,  minna, minnia,  ‘love,’  and  ‘recollection, memory’;