mind

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · inherited from*méntis“thought”
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*mundiz
3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*mundi
4. Old English · inherited frommynd
5. Middle English · inherited fromminde
6. English todaymind

From Middle English minde, munde, imynde, imunde, ȝemynde, ȝemunde, from Old English mynd, ġemynd (“mind, memory”), from Proto-West Germanic *mundi, *gamundi, from Proto-Germanic *mundiz, *gamundiz (“memory, remembrance”), from Proto-Indo-European *méntis (“thought”) (compare also mantis, via Greek), from the root *men- (“to think”). Cognate with Old High German gimunt ("mind, memory, remembrance"; Middle High German munst (“love, benevolence, joy”)), Old Norse mynd (“image, model”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌼𐌿𐌽𐌳𐍃 (gamunds, “remembrance, memory, mind”). Related also to Danish minde (“memory”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish minne (“memory”), Faroese and Icelandic minni (“memory, recall, recollection”), Latin mēns (“mind, reason”), Sanskrit मनस् (mánas), Ancient Greek μένος (ménos), Albanian mënd (“mind, reason”). Related to mantra. Compare also Old English myntan (“to mean, intend, purpose, determine, resolve”). More at mint.

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from 14th c. To remember.
• from 17th c. To pay attention or heed to so as to obey; hence to obey; to make sure, to take care (that).
• from 15th c. To pay attention to, in the sense of occupying one's mind with, to heed.
• from 17th c. To look after, to take care of, especially for a short period of time.
• from 18th c. To be careful about.
• from 16th c. To dislike, to object to; to be bothered by.