mesel
See also: mesél
English edit
Alternative forms edit
- mesyl, mesell, mesall, messel, messell, mesele, mesale, missel, mesell, misell, missell, missale, missaell, messelle, messille, mysal, mysel, mysale, mysell, myssaell, myssale, myssele, myssell, mesill, mysill, mezell, mezill, measell, meazle, meazel
Etymology edit
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.
Adjective edit
mesel
- (medicine, obsolete) Synonym of leprous: having leprosy or a similar skin disorder. [14th–17th c.]
- 1357, John Mandeville, The Travels of Sir John Mandeville[1]:
- Also in that flome Jordan Naaman of Syria bathed him, that was full rich, but he was mesell; and there anon he took his health.
- (figurative, obsolete) Synonym of wretched.
- (figurative, obsolete) Synonym of repulsive.
- (figurative, obsolete) Synonym of sinful.
- (zoology, obsolete) Synonym of diseased, particularly visibly displaying a diseased exterior.
Noun edit
mesel (plural mesels)
- (medicine, obsolete) Synonym of leper.
- (figurative, obsolete) A repulsive person.
- (medicine, obsolete) Synonym of leprosy: Hansen's disease and similar skin disorders.
Derived terms edit
References edit
- “† mesel, adj. and n.”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2022.
Anagrams edit
Middle English edit
Etymology edit
From Old French mesel, from Late Latin misellus (“leper”), from Latin miser (“wretched”).
Noun edit
mesel (plural mesels)
- A leper. [14th–16th c.]
- c. 1385, William Langland, Piers Plowman, section III:
- For she is […] As comune as a cartwey · to eche a knaue þat walketh / To monkes to mynstralles · to meseles in hegges.
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- A wretched or revolting person. [14th–16th c.]
- 1395, John Wycliffe, Bible, Isaiah LIII:
- Verily he suffride oure sikenesses, and he bar oure sorewis; and we arettiden him as a mysel and smytun of God and maad low.
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- Leprosy. [15th–16th c.]
- 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book XVII:
- So hit befelle many yerys agone there happened on her a malodye, and whan she had lyene a grete whyle she felle unto a mesell, and no leche cowde remedye her [...].
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
Descendants edit
References edit
- “mēsel, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Old French edit
Etymology edit
Inherited from Latin misellus (“wretched”).
Noun edit
mesel oblique singular, m (oblique plural meseaus or meseax or mesiaus or mesiax or mesels, nominative singular meseaus or meseax or mesiaus or mesiax or mesels, nominative plural mesel)
- leper
- 1377, Bernard de Gordon, Fleur de lis de medecine (a.k.a. lilium medicine), page 172 of this essay:
- ou par gesir avec femme qui a dormi avec ung mesel
- or by lying with a woman who has slept with a leper