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Mill

3 stages from Late Latin to English.

Today it means a building with machinery for grinding grain; a factory

Where does the word "mill" come from? It comes from Late Latin molina, passing through Old English before entering English (1300s).

molina→mylen→mill

Late Latin · late antiquity

from mola 'millstone'; Vitruvius had already described a geared water mill in his De architectura around 20s BC

Old English · medieval

borrowed via West Germanic (German Mühle); the Domesday Book of 1086 counts about 5,600 mills in England

English · 1300s

"grinding building; factory"

extended to factories, as in the Lancashire cotton mills of the Industrial Revolution after the 1770s

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Mill’s story begins in Late Latin: molina meant “mill.” From mola 'millstone'; Vitruvius had already described a geared water mill in his De architectura around 20s BC. By medieval, the word had taken hold in Old English as mylen. Borrowed via West Germanic (German Mühle); the Domesday Book of 1086 counts about 5,600 mills in England. It reached English by 1300s as mill. Extended to factories, as in the Lancashire cotton mills of the Industrial Revolution after the 1770s. Today, mill means a building with machinery for grinding grain; a factory.