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   The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition.  2000.
 

Appendix I

Indo-European Roots
 
ENTRY:mei-1
DEFINITION:To change, go, move; with derivatives referring to the exchange of goods and services within a society as regulated by custom or law.
Derivatives include mad, molt, mutate, mistake, communism, amoeba, and migrate.
1. meatus; congé, irremeable, permeate, from Latin mere, to go, pass. 2. Suffixed o-grade form *moi-to-. a. mad, from Old English *gemdan, to make insane or foolish, from Germanic *ga-maid-jan, denominative from *ga-maid-az, “changed (for the worse),” abnormal (*ga-, intensive prefix; see kom); b. mew1, molt, mutate; commute, permute, remuda, transmute, from Latin mtre, to change; c. mutual, from Latin mtuus, “done in exchange,” borrowed, reciprocal, mutual. 3. Suffixed zero-grade form *mi-t-. azimuth, zenith, from Latin smita, sidetrack, side path (< “thing going off to the side”; s-, apart; see s(w)e-). 4. Suffixed zero-grade form *mi-tro-. a. Mitra, from Sanskrit mitra, friend, friendship; b. Mithras, from Avestan and Old Persian mithra-, contract. Both a and b from Indo-Iranian *mitra-, friend(ship), contract, god of the contract. 5. Suffixed extended zero-grade form *mit-to-. a. mis-1, from Old English mis-, mis-, and Old French mes- (from Frankish *miss-); b. amiss, mistake, from Old Norse mis(s), mis(s)-, miss, mis-; c. miss1, from Old English missan, to miss, from Germanic *missjan, to go wrong. a–c all from Germanic *missa-, “in a changed manner,” abnormally, wrongly. 6. Suffixed o-grade form *moi-n- in compound adjective *ko-moin-i-, “held in common” (*ko-, together; see kom). a. mean2, demean2, from Old English gemne, common, public, general, from Germanic *gamainiz; b. common, commune1, commune2, communicate, communism; excommunicate, incommunicado, from Latin commnis, common, public, general. 7. Suffixed o-grade form *moi-n-es-. a. municipal, munificent, remunerate, from Latin mnus, “service performed for the community,” duty, work, “public spectacle paid for by a magistrate,” gift; b. immune, from Latin immnis, exempt from public service (in-, negative prefix; see ne). 8. Extended form *()meigw-. a. amoeba, from Greek ameibein, to change; b. migrate; emigrate, from Latin migrre, to change one's place of living. (Pokorny 2. mei-, 3. mei- 710, mei-g- 713, 2. mei-t(h)- 715.)
 
 
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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