Etymology

missel

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Today it means: A missel thrush. Full definition →

Middle English mesel ← Norman mesel ← Old French mesel
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The story

  1. Late Latin · derived frommisellus“leper”
  2. Old French · derived frommesel“leprous, leper”
  3. Norman · derived frommesel“leprous, leper”
  4. Middle English · inherited frommesel“leprous, leper”
  5. English todaymissel

From Middle English mesel (“leprous, leper”), from Norman mesel (“leprous, leper”), from Old French mesel (“leprous, leper”), from Late Latin misellus (“leper”), from miser (“wretched, wretch”) + -ellus (“-elle”). Doublet of measles.

Words from the same roots

Middle Englishmesel all →

measlesmeaslemeselmesylmissell

Normanmesel all →

measlesmeselmesylmissell

Old Frenchmesel all →

measlesmeaslemeselmesylmissell

Late Latinmisellus all →

measlesmeselmesylmissell

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.