Silence
Last week’s post covered a steaming heap of unlikely words that shared a common root
meaning to speak. In an attempt for
balance, I took a look at the etymologies of silence &
quiet for this week’s post, but came away uninspired. The word mute
is another matter.
Mute
made its way into
English in the 1300s through Old French & Latin from Greek. Initially, mute meant
pretty much what it mostly means today – silent.
By the 1570s mute picked up the meaning stage
actor engaging in pantomime. By 1811 a mute could be applied to a stringed instrument
& by 1841 a mute could be used on
horns.
The
Greek source for mute was myein, to be shut, & myein has some intriguing progeny.
One
branch of the myein tree grew like this:
It
started way back in Greek as myein, to be shut.
Next,
it became mystes, one who has been
initiated (possibly referring to having been previously shut out).
From
there it became mysteria, a secret rite
or doctrine.
Next,
it grew to be mysterium, secret worship
or secret thing.
And
from there it became mistere, secret or hidden meaning.
Then
finally (in the early 1300s) it became mystery, meaning religious truth via divine revelation. These
days most dictionaries offer about a dozen meanings for mystery, generally
starting off with something like an event
that baffles or eludes the understanding.
Another
mysterious branch of the myein tree grew in this fashion:
Of
course, we start with myein, to be shut.
Next comes myops,
which literally meant close the eyes, but came to mean near-sighted.
By 1727, we have the word myopia.
Mute
is often confused with
a word that started out as a Proto-Germanic word meaning assembly or council (ga-motan) It next moved into Old
English as gemot, meaning meeting. One
must assume Old English meetings were contentious, as the next Old English word
on this tree was moot, to debate. By
the 1530s, moot picked up the adjectival meaning debatable or discussion of a
hypothetical law case.
So from
that old Greek word myein we ended up with mute, myopia & mystery,
but not moot.
I’m
hoping you’ve got something to say about all this. If so, just click on the
word “comments” below & enter your comment.
Big thanks
to this week’s sources: Etymonline, Wordnik,
Collins
Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, & the OED.
I won't be mute about mute. Loved this blog!
ReplyDeleteHey Cynthia - so glad to see the comments section finally worked for you. Brava! And thanks for popping by in your non-muteness.
DeleteYou have solved a mystery that has intrigued me since my sister went to law school: the origin of the term "moot court"--the mock court that law students use to practice debate skills. I couldn't figure out what it had to do with "mute". Answer: nothing! it comes from old English, not Greek. Totally different word. So it's no longer ahem, a mystery! Thanks, Wordmonger!
ReplyDeleteDearest Miss Allen - so glad to be of service. And thanks - once more - for popping by.
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