myre

n.

WA pl. myrys

'mire, swamp'

(Modern English mire)

Etymology

cp. OIcel mýrr ‘moor, bog, swamp’ < PGmc *meuziz; cp. OE mēos, OHG mios ‘moss’, formations on the same root without the operation of Verner’s Law, i.e. < PGmc *meusan or *meusaz.

PGmc Ancestor

*meuziz 

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

mýrr ‘moor, bog, swamp’ 
(ONP mýrr (n.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Far mýri, Icel mýri, Norw myr, Dan, myr, Sw myr, myra

OE Cognate

meos 'moss'

Phonological and morphological markers

ON /y/ &lt; */iu/ by front mutation

Summary category

A1*b

Attestation

Widespread in ME (inc. in metaphorical use, e.g. MED 3(a)).  Treated in detail by Hug 1987 (see esp. pp. 106-8 and 109-47).  Predominantly N in place-names; see further EPNE, Elliott 1984: 148.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 749; Cl 1114; Pat 279; WA 2986

Bibliography

MED mīre (n.1) , OED3 mire (n.1) , HTOED , EDD mire (sb. and v.1), Dance myre, Bj. 115, de Vries mýrr, Mag. mýrr, Bj-L. myr, Orel *meusan ~ *meusaz, Kroonen *meusa-, AEW mēos, EPNE mýrr