Etymograph

English

mix

Mix comes from Middle English mixen, from Old English *mixian, from Proto-West Germanic *miskijan ‘to mix’, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *meyǵ- ‘to mix’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*meyǵ-‘to mix’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*miḱ-sḱé-tireconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*miskijan‘to mix’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150*mixianreconstructed
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mixen
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1591mix

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*meyǵ-‘to mix’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*miḱ-sḱé-tireconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*miskijan‘to mix’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150*mixianreconstructed
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mixen
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1591mix

Earliest quotation: 1591, William Shakespeare, The First Part of Henry the Sixt: “What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to…”

The story

From Middle English mixen (attested in past tense as mixed, myxyd), from Old English *mixian, miscian, from Proto-West Germanic *miskijan, from Proto-West Germanic *miskijan (‘to mix’), from Proto-Indo-European *miḱ-sḱé-ti, from *meyǵ-, *meyḱ- (‘to mix’).

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *meyǵ- ‘to mix’

mash, 7 more

Today it means

verb To stir together.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *meyǵ- / mix

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