English
moult
Moult comes from Old English *mutian ‘to exchange for’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- ‘to change’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*meyth₂-‘to change’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmūtō‘to (re)move, change, vary, mutate, exchange, abandon’
- Old Englishc. 450–1150*mutian‘to exchange for’reconstructed
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mouten
- Englishearliest quotation 1899moult
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*meyth₂-‘to change’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmūtō‘to (re)move, change, vary, mutate, exchange, abandon’
- Old Englishc. 450–1150*mutian‘to exchange for’reconstructed
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mouten
- Englishearliest quotation 1899moult
Earliest quotation: 1899, The Chautauquan: “[…] molted into a new suit so that he…”
The story
From Middle English mouten, from Old English *mutian (attested in bemutian, “to exchange for”), from Latin mūtō (‘to (re)move, change, vary, mutate, exchange, abandon’). The unetymological ⟨l⟩ was introduced into the spelling by mistakenly assuming a French origin with -l- as in fault and vault; compare solder, which in contrast has an etymological ⟨l⟩ (from Latin solidāre, “to make solid“) but was historically pronounced without that grapheme's sound.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- ‘to change’
miss, message, mad, mess, commit, premise, madden, intermittent, omit, misnomer, transmutation, commutation, transmute, 18 more
through Latin mūtō ‘to (re)move, change, vary, mutate, exchange,…’
mute, mutant, mutation, immutable, mutate, commutative, mutable, 13 more
through Middle English mouten
Today it means
noun The process of shedding or losing a covering of fur, feathers or skin etc.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- / moult