mīsa
Latgalian
Etymology
From Proto-Baltic *mēnsa-, from Proto-Indo-European *mḗms (with dissimilation of the second m), apparently an old reduplicated form of the stem *me-, *mē- (“meat, flesh”) (i.e. *me-me-s or *me-em(ə)-s > *mēms(o)-). This stem has variants (*mē- > *mei-; cf. maiss) and may have originally been the name of some animal species (cf. *moi-so- (“sheep”), and secondarily also the source of words for its meat, skin, or limbs). Cognates include Latvian miesa, dialectal Lithuanian meisà (“meat”) (< *mēnsa-), Old Prussian mensā, menso (“meat, flesh”), Old Church Slavonic мѧсо (męso), Russian мя́со (mjáso), Ukrainian м'я́со (mʺjáso), мня́со (mnjáso), Bulgarian месо́ (mesó), Czech maso, Polish mięso, Slovak mäso, Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌼𐌶 (mimz) (< *mēm-so-), Sanskrit मांसम् (māṁsam), earlier मांस् (māṁs, “meat”), Ancient Greek μηρός (mērós, “upper leg, thigh”) (< *mēs-ro-), μῆνιγξ (mêninx, “skin, brain membrane”) (< *mēs-no-), Latin membrum (“organ, member”) (< *mēs-ro-m), membrāna (“thin skin, membrane”).