Etymology

Formally this word continues OE missan 'to miss (a mark), escape the notice of a person', but as OED3 notes it is not common in OE and some senses (including these) are likely to have been introduced, or at least reinforced, by the ON cognate, cp. missa 'to miss, lose'. Both represent a common Gmc wk. v. *missjan- (cp. OFris missa, MDu, MLG, MHG, OHG missen) derived on the adjectival base *miss- (as in the prefix mis-, and see also mys).

PGmc Ancestor

*missjan-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

missa 'to miss, lose'
(ONP missa, myssa (2) (vb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Far missa, Icel missa, Norw missa

OE Cognate

missan 'to miss (a mark), escape the notice of a person'

Phonological and morphological markers

Summary category

C3

(C5)

Attestation

This v. is rare in OE and doesn't occur in either of the senses attested in Pe, while in ME it is common and widespread in a variety of senses from the 13c. onwards.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Pe 329, 382; Cl  189, 551, 994 etc.; WA 149, 1343, *2649

Osgood interprets the instance at Pe 382 as the n. (see mys).  At WA 2649, TPD emend MS A ames to [myss]es on the basis of D myssys.

Bibliography

MED missen (v.1) , OED3 miss (v.1) , HTOED , de Vries missa (2), Mag. missa, Orel *missjanan, AEW missan