English
mayhem
Mayhem comes from Middle English maym ‘disfigurement, injury, mutilation’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *mey- ‘to attach, bind, strengthen’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mey-‘to attach, bind, strengthen’root as named · steps between not traced
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400mahaing
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400mahaim
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500maymas maim‘disfigurement, injury, mutilation’
- Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500mayehem
- Englishearliest quotation 1528mayhem
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mey-‘to attach, bind, strengthen’root as named · steps between not traced
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400mahaing
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400mahaim
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500maymas maim‘disfigurement, injury, mutilation’
- Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500mayehem
- Englishearliest quotation 1528mayhem
Earliest quotation: 1528, Thomas More, A Dialogue Concernynge Heresyes & Matters of Religion […]. C: “It is a gentle holineſſe […] to riſe vp…”
The story
The noun is derived from Late Middle English mayehem, maihem, a late form of maym, maim (‘disfigurement, injury, mutilation; disfigured person’) (whence modern English maim (noun)), from Anglo-Norman mahaim, mahainne (‘mutilation’), and Old French mehaing, meshaing (‘bodily harm, loss of limb’). The etymology of the Old French words is uncertain; they are possibly from Proto-Germanic *maidijaną (‘to damage; to hurt; to change; to exchange’) (compare Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌹𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (maidjan, “to alter, falsify”); Middle High German meidem, meiden (‘gelding’); Old Norse meiða (‘to injure’)), from Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- (‘to change; to exchange; etc.’), possibly from *mey- (‘to change; to exchange’).uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain. If so, the English word is a doublet of mad.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *mey- ‘to attach, bind, strengthen’
mean, community, common, met, minister, minute, commission, communication, ministry, minor, mess, meal, min, commit, communist, menu, mutual, communicate, compromise, immune, missile, mere, minus, ammunition, immunity, dismiss, communism, municipality, communal, mole, premise, communion, mural, ammo, noodle, intermittent, moor, commune, remuneration, mite, 79 more
Today it means
noun The criminal offence of maiming (“seriously wounding”) a person such that their ability to defend or protect themselves is weakened or completely removed; (countable) an instance of this.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *mey- / mayhem