eldertongue

Old English · adjective

micel

Normalised miċel

Part of speech
adjective
IPA
/ˈmi.t͡ʃel/
Syllables
ˈmi · t͡ʃel (2 syllables)
Modern English
muchbigmicklemucklecontexta lotlargephysical

Meaning

  1. big, large; great, physical context

    "Ēalā, hū miċele nosu hē hæfþ!" "Māran iċ ġeseah." "Hwæt is sēo mǣste þe þū ǣfre ġemēttest?"

    "Wow, he has such a big nose!" "I've seen bigger." "What's the biggest one you've ever seen?"

  2. great, abstract context

    Nāst þū lā Geori þæt ūre godas swincað mid þē and ġit hī synd ġeþyldiġe þæt hī þe miltsion. Nū lǣre ic ðē swā swā lēofne sunu þæt ðū þæra cristenra lāre forlǣte mid ealle and tō mīnum rǣde hraðe ġebūge swā þæt ðū offriġe þām ārwurðan Appoline and þū mycelne wurðmynt miht swā beġitan.

    Knowest thou not, O George, that our gods are striving with thee, and even yet they are patient, that they may pity thee; now I exhort thee, as a beloved son, that thou altogether quit the Christians' doctrine, and quickly incline to my counsel, so that thou sacrifice to the venerable Apollo, and thou mayest so obtain great honour.

    late 10th century, Ælfric, "Saint George, Martyr"
  3. much, a lot

    Hū miċel sċeal iċ þē?

    How much do I owe you?

Declension

All forms (16)

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *mikil, from Proto-Germanic *mikilaz, from Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s (“big, great, stout”). The Germanic is cognate with Ancient Greek μέγας (mégas, “great”). Compare Swedish mycket (much).

Descendants

mickle, much, muckle

Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · en.wiktionary.org/wiki/micel · CC BY-SA 4.0 licence · Attribution