Unnumbered source etymology
Original entry ↗To mumble, speak unclearly. · To move the lips with the mouth closed; to mumble, as in sulkiness. · To beg, especially if using a repeated phrase. · To deprive of (something) by cheating; to impose upon.
A grimace.
Perhaps borrowed through obsolete Dutch mompen (“to cheat, swindle, deceive”), according to Kroonen, a derivative of Proto-Germanic *mump- (“to stain”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *mm̥bʰ-neh₂- Also akin to German mimpfeln (“to mumble”), Icelandic mumpa (“to take into the mouth”). See also English mum. While Kroonen claims Ancient Greek μέμφομαι (mémphomai, “I blame, accuse”) and the Germanic forms are reconcilable and related, Beekes rejects this, stating that Germanic -p- cannot here correspond to Greek -φ- and that this etymological connection is not widely considered reliable.
Relationships mentioned by the source
These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.
This page abbreviates 3 auxiliary source items. The etymology narrative is not shortened. Omission counts are available in the audit fields below; consult the original for complete auxiliary material.
Inspect preserved source fields
Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.
{
"templates": [
{
"name": "dercat",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "dum"
},
"expansion": ""
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "nl",
"2": "mompen",
"t": "to cheat, swindle, deceive"
},
"expansion": "Dutch mompen (“to cheat, swindle, deceive”)"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "gem-pro",
"3": "*mump-",
"t": "to stain"
},
"expansion": "Proto-Germanic *mump- (“to stain”)"
},
{
"name": "der",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "ine-pro",
"3": "*membʰ-",
"4": "*mm̥bʰ-neh₂-"
},
"expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *mm̥bʰ-neh₂-"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "de",
"2": "mimpfeln",
"t": "to mumble"
},
"expansion": "German mimpfeln (“to mumble”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "is",
"2": "mumpa",
"t": "to take into the mouth"
},
"expansion": "Icelandic mumpa (“to take into the mouth”)"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "mum"
},
"expansion": "English mum"
},
{
"name": "cog",
"args": {
"1": "grc",
"2": "μέμφομαι",
"t": "I blame, accuse"
},
"expansion": "Ancient Greek μέμφομαι (mémphomai, “I blame, accuse”)"
}
],
"links": [
[
"mompen",
"mompen#Dutch"
],
[
"*mump-",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/mump-"
],
[
"*mm̥bʰ-neh₂-",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/membʰ-"
],
[
"mimpfeln",
"mimpfeln#German"
],
[
"mumpa",
"mumpa#Icelandic"
],
[
"mum",
"mum#English"
],
[
"μέμφομαι",
"μέμφομαι#Ancient_Greek"
]
],
"references": [],
"descendants": [],
"lexical": [
{
"pos": "verb",
"glosses": [
"To mumble, speak unclearly.",
"To move the lips with the mouth closed; to mumble, as in sulkiness.",
"To beg, especially if using a repeated phrase.",
"To deprive of (something) by cheating; to impose upon."
],
"tags": [
"ambitransitive",
"intransitive"
],
"recordId": "185dd49e293c453d40168dee23f3ff23c86aad38714d1468945a9f8a3550bfdc",
"rawRecordSha256": "1495d95b8ab86d5f685a0990d10187d000f6fdf3a89f741ab72a65193b47eee4",
"sourceRecordOrdinal": 1040280
},
{
"pos": "noun",
"glosses": [
"A grimace."
],
"tags": [
"obsolete"
],
"recordId": "487a450cdc17a74181f8d155318fff3b453f69d2f2acd96cf63138eb9c345ff3",
"rawRecordSha256": "a642b85e183f357d51ad70601a7e3f45dc7b2518bbe7b11b2a78028453e45c5b",
"sourceRecordOrdinal": 1040281
}
],
"omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
"templates": 0,
"links": 0,
"references": 0,
"descendants": 0,
"lexicalRecords": 0,
"lexicalSenses": 3,
"glosses": 0
}
}