meal
An occasion when food is eaten; ground grain or flour.
Etymology
Modern English meal has two distinct senses from different PIE roots. Meal meaning "ground grain" (as in oatmeal, cornmeal) comes from Old English melu "meal, flour," from Proto-Germanic *melwą, from PIE *meh₂-k- or *melh₂- meaning "to grind, to crush." The same root produced Latin molere "to grind" (giving English mill, molar, emolument, and immolate — originally "to sprinkle with sacrificial meal"), Greek mýlē "mill," and Russian molot' "to grind." Meal meaning "a time for eating" comes from a different root — Old English mǣl "fixed time, measure" from PIE *meh₁- "to measure." German Mehl "flour" and Mahl "meal (time)" preserve the same split. Within English, the grinding family includes malt (grain softened for brewing), mild (something ground smooth), and millet (a small grain).
The Journey: *meh₂-k- → meal
*meh₂-k-
*melwą
melu
mele, meal
meal
Cognates Across Languages
These words in other languages descend from the same PIE root *meh₂-k-. They are not borrowings but independent inheritances from a common ancestor.
| Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Latin | molere | to grind |
| Greek | mýlē | mill |
| German | Mehl | flour |
| Russian | molot' | to grind |
| Lithuanian | malti | to grind |
Did You Know?
The word immolate — to sacrifice by fire — literally means "to sprinkle with meal." Roman priests sprinkled sacrificial grain (mola salsa) on victims before killing them. The same PIE root that gives us oatmeal thus also gave us a word for ritual burning, through the sacred significance of ground grain.