mayhem

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*meyth₂-“to change; to exchange; etc.”
2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*maidijaną“to damage; to hurt; to change; to exchange”
3. Old French · derived frommehaingner
4. Middle French · derived frommehaignier
5. Anglo-Norman · derived frommahaigner
6. Middle English · inherited frommahaym
7. Old French · derived frommehaing
8. Anglo-Norman · derived frommahaim
9. Middle English · inherited frommayehem
10. English todaymayhem

The noun is derived from Late Middle English mayehem, maihem, a late form of maym, maim (“disfigurement, injury, mutilation; disfigured person”) (whence modern English maim (noun)), from Anglo-Norman mahaim, mahainne (“mutilation”), and Old French mehaing, meshaing (“bodily harm, loss of limb”). The verb is partly: * from Late Middle English mahaym, maheyme, a late form of maimen, maymen (“to injure seriously, mutilate, maim; to damage; to destroy; to afflict with disease; to dispossess”) (whence modern English maim (verb)), from Anglo-Norman mahaigner, mahimer, Middle French mehaignier, and Old French mehaingner, meshaignier (“to destroy; to harm; to injure, maim”); and * from the modern English noun. The etymology of the Old French words is uncertain; they are possibly from Proto-Germanic *maidijaną (“to damage; to hurt; to change; to exchange”) (compare Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌹𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (maidjan, “to alter, falsify”); Middle High German meidem, meiden (“gelding”); Old Norse meiða (“to injure”)), from Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- (“to change; to exchange; etc.”), possibly from *mey- (“to change; to exchange”). If so, the English word is a doublet of mad.

Words from the same roots