MEAD

Mead in English means both honey and an alcoholic drink made out of it.

Danish word for flour is "mel" while Latin word for honey is also "mel".

There could be a possible connection between the grinding process and a bee that chews/grinds pollen inside and spits it out as honey.

In many Indo-European stories a bear is always the one who eats honey all the time.

In Lithuanian a name for a bear is "meška" while in non-Indo-European Adyghe language it is very similar "мышъэ" (məʂa), also in Ugro-Finnic Mari language "маска" (maska). Both might connect to an Estonian word for honey "mesi".

It is not a coincidence that in Slavic languages a name for a bear means simply "The one who knows where the honey is", for example the Old Church Slavonic "мєдвѣдь". In Old Irish language there is a similar structure in a word for a bear: mathgamain (Irish "I know" is "Tá a fhios agam"). In non-Indo-European Veps language a bear is called a "mezikämen" ("mezi" meaning "honey") and "medve" in Hungarian.

MEL-

Ancient Greek: μέλι (méli)

Ancient Greek: μέλισσα (Melissa) ("bee")

Old Armenian: մեղր (mełr)

Old Armenian: մեղու (mełu) ("bee")

Breton: mel

Cornish: mel

Welsh: mêl

Latin: mel

Catalan: mel

English: mel

Galician: mel

Istriot: mel

Occitan: mèl

Portuguese: mel

Romansch: mel

Samoan: meli

Sardinian: mele

Sicilian: meli

Italian: miele

French: miel

Aragonese: miel

Asturian: miel

Spanish: miel

Venetian: miel

Dutch: meeldauw

Middle Low German: meldow

Low German: Meldau

German: Meltau, Mehltau

German: Mehl ("flour")

Old English: meledēaw ("honeydew")

MIL-

Hittite: militt-

Gothic: 𐌼𐌹𐌻𐌹𐌸 (miliþ)

Old High German: militou

Middle High German: miltou

Lithuanian: miltai ("flour")

Old Saxon: milidou

Old Irish: milis ("honey")

Irish: milis ("honey")

Scottish Gaelic: milis ("honey")

Old Irish: mil ("honey")

Irish: mil ("honey")

Manx: mill ("honey")

Scottish Gaelic: mil ("honey")

Dalmatian: mil

Ladin: mil

Friulian: mîl

MED-

Latvian: medus

Lithuanian: medus

Old Prussian: meddo

Old Church Slavonic: медъ ⰿⰵⰴⱏ (medŭ)

Old English: medu, meodo

Old Saxon: medu

Ukrainian: мед (med)

Bulgarian: мед (med)

Macedonian: мед (med)

Serbo-Croatian: ме̑д, mȇd

Slovene: mẹ̑d

Czech: med

Upper Sorbian: měd

Slovak: med

Romanian: mied

Cornish: medh

Middle Welsh: medd

Welsh: medd

Gaulish: medu

Middle English: mede, methe

Scots: mede, meid

Old Frisian: mede

Saterland Frisian: Meede

Middle Low German: mēde, medde

Middle Dutch: mēde

Dutch: mede

MET-

Ancient Greek: μέθυ (méthu) ("wine")

Greek: μέθη (méthi) ("drunkenness")

Old High German: metu

Middle High German: mete, met

German: Met

MIO-

Irish: miodh

Belarusian: мёд (mjod)

Russian: мёд (mjod)

Kashubian: miód

Polish: miód

Old Polish: miod

Lower Sorbian: mjod

Old Norse: mjǫðr

Icelandic: mjöður

Faroese: mjøður

Norwegian Bokmål: mjød

Norwegian Nynorsk: mjød

Old Swedish: miödher, mioþer

Swedish: mjöd

Old Danish: mioth, miøth, møth

Danish: mjød

Westrobothnian: mjø

MI-

---> Middle Chinese: 蜜

---> Japanese: 蜜 (mitsu, michi)

---> Mandarin: 蜜

Old Irish: mid

Tocharian B: mīt

English: mead

Low German: Mia (Westphalian dialects)

MO-

Assamese: মৌ (mou)

Bengali: মউ (môu)

Romani: mol, mod, mou

Assamese: মধু (modhu)

Bengali: মধু (môdhu)

Bactrian: μολο (molo) ("wine")

Persian: مل‎ (mol) ("wine")

Kurdish: mot, motî

MA-

Sanskrit: मधु (mádhu)

Sanskrit: मधुलिह् (madhulih) ("a bee, a honey licker")

Pali: madhu

Sauraseni Prakrit: madhu

Gujarati: મધ (madh)

Hindi: मधु (madhu)

Urdu: مدھو‎ (madhu)

Marathi: मध (madh)

Old Marathi: madu

Avestan: maδu ("wine")

Middle Persian: may

Persian: می‎ (may, mey)

Tajik: май (may)

Scythian: madu

Sogdian: mδw /maδu/ ("wine")

Maharastri Prakrit: mahu

Megleno-Romanian: m'ari

Albanian: mjaltë

Luwian: mallit-

OTHER

Middle Breton: mez

Breton: mez

West Frisian: mea

Konkani: म्होव (mhov), म्होवु (mhovu)

Aromanian: njari

Istro-Romanian: mľåre

Romanian: miere

Norman: myi

Ossetian Digor: муд (mud)

Ossetion Iron: мыд (myd)

Finno-Ugric

Hungarian: méz

Livonian: me'ž

Karelian: mesi

Veps: mezi

Võro: mesi

Votic: mesi

Estonian: mesi

Finnish: mesi ("nectar")

Komi-Permyak: ма (ma)

Komi-Zyrian: ма (ma)

Udmurt: му (mu)

Eastern Mari: мӱй (müj)

Western Mari: мӱ (mü)

Erzya: медь (medʹ)

Moksha: медь (medʹ)

Pite Sami: mierra, miedda

Lule Sami: mieda

Northern Sami: miehta

Inari Sami: mietâ

Skolt Sami: miõtt

Kildin Sami: мӣдт (mīdt)

Ter Sami: mitt

Article published on the 11th of July 2018.