Etymograph

English

milt

Milt comes from Middle English milte ‘spleen’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *(s)meld- ‘to beat, grind, crush, weaken’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)meld-1‘to beat, grind, crush, weaken’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*meltǭ1‘spleen’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*miltijā1reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150milte1‘milt, spleen’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500milte1‘spleen’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1603milt1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English milt
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes […]: “we see that certaine apprehensions engender a blushing-red colour,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)meld-Wiktionary, English milt‘to beat, grind, crush, weaken’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*meltǭWiktionary, English milt‘spleen’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*miltijāWiktionary, English miltreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150milteWiktionary, English milt‘milt, spleen’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500milteWiktionary, English milt‘spleen’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1603miltWiktionary, English milt. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes […]: “we see that certaine apprehensions engender a blushing-red colour,…”

The story

Outside Germanic, with Albanian mëlçi (‘liver’) and Italian milza (‘spleen’), which is a borrowing from Lombardic.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)meld- ‘to beat, grind, crush, weaken’

email, melt, enamel, mojo, molten, moll, mojito, molt, schmaltz, 19 more

Today it means

noun The spleen, especially of an animal bred for food.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “milt”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *(s)meld- / milt

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