English
mess
Origin unknown. Mess is of unknown origin.
The story
Perhaps a corruption of Middle English mesh (‘mash’), compare muss, or derived from Etymology 2 "mixed foods, as for animals".
Another origin of mess
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mey-‘change’uncertain
- Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*meyth₂-‘exchange, remove’uncertain
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmītōby way of Proto-Italic *meitōuncertain
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEmittō‘to put, place’
- Late Latin, derivedc. 200–600 CEmē(n)sa‘table’
- Old Englishc. 450–1150mēse‘table’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mes
- Englishtodaymess
Today it means
noun A thing or group of things in a disagreeable, disorganised, or dirty state; hence a bad situation.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / mess