Etymograph

English

mint

Mint comes from Middle English mynt ‘money, coin’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *men-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*men-root as named
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmonēta‘place for making coins, coined money’
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*munit‘coin’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150mynet‘coin’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mynt‘money, coin’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1595–1596mint

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*men-root as named
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmonēta‘place for making coins, coined money’
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*munit‘coin’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150mynet‘coin’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mynt‘money, coin’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1595–1596mint

Earliest quotation: c. 1595–1596, William Shakespeare, Loues Labour’s Lost: “A mint of phrases in his brain.”

The story

From Middle English mynt, münet (‘money, coin’), from Old English mynet (‘coin’), from late Proto-West Germanic *munit, from Latin monēta (‘place for making coins, coined money’), from the temple of Juno Moneta (named for Monēta mother of the Muses), where coins were made.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *men-

music, mouth, amount, museum, comment, mind, mental, remain, monster, auto, mention, monitor, permanent, mountain, mount, demonstration, monk, maya, monument, monastery, amnesty, mentor, muse, mosaic, summon, menace, mas, dementia, min, mania, muster, monstrous, monte, amnesia, manic, mandarin, mantra, prominence, monastic, mont, 125 more

through Latin monēta ‘place for making coins, coined money’

money, monetary, monetize, demonetization, 5 more

Another origin of mint

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEμίνθηmínthēuncertain
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmenta‘the mint (plant)’
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*mintāreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150minte‘mint plant’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mynte
  6. Englishtodaymint

Another origin of mint

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*men-‘to think, mind’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*muntijan‘to think, consider’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150myntan‘to mean, intend, purpose, determine, resolve’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500minten
  5. Englishtodaymint

Today it means

noun A building or institution where money (originally, only coins) is produced under government licence.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *men- / mint

Shirt and support for this word