Etymograph

English

message

Message comes from Old French message, from Early Medieval Latin missāticum, from Latin mittō ‘to send’, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*meyth₂-‘to exchange’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmittō‘to send’
  3. Early Medieval Latinmodernmissāticum
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400message
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1611same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*meyth₂-‘to exchange’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmittō‘to send’
  3. Early Medieval Latinmodernmissāticum
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400message
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500same form
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1611same form

Earliest quotation: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “I have a message from God unto thee.”

The story

Partially displaced Old English ærende (whence errand).

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- ‘to exchange’

miss, mad, commit, premise, mute, mutant, madden, intermittent, omit, mutate, transmutation, misnomer, commutative, commutation, mutable, molt, moult, 20 more

through Latin mittere ‘send’

mass

Today it means

noun A communication, or what is communicated; any concept or information conveyed.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- / message

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