mesleiz

Old French

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *misculātīcius, from Early Medieval Latin misculāre (“to mix”). By surface analysis, mesler +‎ -ëiz. Rarer than the synonym meslee < *misculāta. An adjective *meslëiz may also have existed, only to be assimilated to the suffix -if, resulting in meslif (“quarrelsome”) (cf. massif < massiz).

Noun

mesleiz oblique singular, m (oblique plural mesleiz, nominative singular mesleiz, nominative plural mesleiz)

1. brawl, melee

References

• Malkiel, Yakov. 1968. The Old French verbal abstracts in -ëiz. Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie 102. 32–33.