Mien

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Dr. Goodword
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Mien

Postby Dr. Goodword » Tue Mar 28, 2023 7:39 pm

• mien •


Pronunciation: meen • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: 1. Demeanor, bearing, manner, reflective of the state of mind, mood, character, attitude. 2. Appearance, aspect, impression.

Notes: Today's Good Word follows the old elementary school rule, "I before E except after C." However, this spelling is particularly un-English, so the word has remained mostly a lexical orphan. Miened has been used in compounds like majestic-miened and mandarin-miened.

In Play: Mien refers only to bearings that suggest something about the inner workings of people: "Harvey Milquetoast has a wistful, fragile, almost feminine mien in his gestures and other movements." Again: "His brother Hawkshaw, on the other hand, strides about with a soldier's mien that betrays his erstwhile occupation."

Word History: Today's Good Word is of misty origin, probably an aphetic form of Middle English demeinen "to handle, conduct", borrowed from Old French demener "to guide, conduct". This word is composed of de- "(down) from, concerning" + mener "to lead, direct". Mener is the French version of Latin minari "to threaten, drive (animals)". The latter was derived from PIE men-/mon- "to project, stand out", the remains of which we also see in Breton menez "mountain", Cornish meneth "mountain", Irish múin "top", Welsh mynydd "mountain", and Latin mon(t)s "mountain", mentum "chin", and eminere "to stand out". (Now yet another word of thanks to Wordmaster Rob Towart for seeing the worth in today's Good Word and sharing it with us.)
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tapoensgen
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Re: Mien

Postby tapoensgen » Wed Mar 29, 2023 5:27 am

In German there is Miene, which appears in such sayings as gute Miene zum bösen Spiel. Until the 18th century Miene was spelled Mine. Contemporary French uses mine "facial expression" and Old Breton has the word min "mouth".
As to the origin in Latin, an alternative to the origin from minari could be the Latin miniare "to make up", related to minium, the orange red mineral used in make up and painting.


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