English
miss
Miss comes from Old English missan ‘to miss’, from Proto-Germanic *missijaną ‘to miss, go wrong’, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- ‘to change’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*meyth₂-‘to change’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*missijaną‘to miss’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*missijan‘to go wrong’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150missan‘to miss’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500missen
- Englishearliest quotation 1590miss
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*meyth₂-‘to change’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*missijaną‘to miss’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*missijan‘to go wrong’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150missan‘to miss’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500missen
- Englishearliest quotation 1590miss
Earliest quotation: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book III, Canto IX: “Emongst the Angels, a whole legione / Of wicked…”
The story
Related also to Scots mis (‘wrongdoing, sin, guilt’), Dutch mis (‘misdeed, wrongdoing, mistake’), Middle Low German misse (‘sin, wrong’).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- ‘to change, exchange, trade’
mad, message, commission, mess, commit, mute, mutant, madden, premise, intermittent, omit, mutate, transmutation, commutative, commutation, mutable, molt, misnomer, moult, 18 more
Today it means
verb To fail to hit, catch, grasp, etc.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- / miss