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Origin and history of mole

mole(n.1)

spot on skin, Old English mal "spot, mark, blemish," especially on cloth or linen, from Proto-Germanic *mailan "spot, mark" (source also of Old High German meil, German Mal, Gothic mail "wrinkle"), from PIE root *mai- (2) "to stain, soil, defile" (source also of Greek miainein "to stain, defile," see miasma). Specifically of small, permanent dark marks on human skin from late 14c.

mole(n.2)

type of small burrowing insectivorous mammal (genus Talpa), mid-14c., molle (early 13c. in surnames); perhaps a shortening of obsolete moldwarp, literally "earth-thrower," but this sort of abbreviation is rare at that early age, and perhaps it is rather directly from the root of mold (n.3) "loose earth." It may represent an unrecorded Old English word; compare Middle Dutch mol, molle, Middle Low German mol, mul.

From c. 1600 as a figure of "one who works in darkness" (in Middle English, moldewerpe was figurative of a cleric overly concerned with worldly things). The espionage sense of "secret agent who gradually attains a position deep within organization or nation" was popularized 1974 in John le Carré (but suggested from early 20c.), from the notion of "burrowing."

also from mid-14c.

mole(n.3)

"massive structure used as a breakwater," 1540s, from French môle "breakwater" (16c.), ultimately from Latin moles "mass, massive structure, barrier," perhaps from PIE root *mō- "to exert oneself" (source also of Greek molos "effort," molis "hardly, scarcely;" German mühen "to tire," müde "weary, tired;" Russian majat' "to fatigue, exhaust," maja "hard work").

also from 1540s

mole(n.4)

unit of molecular quantity, 1902, from German Mol coined 1900 by German chemist Wilhelm Ostwald, short for Molekül (see molecule).

also from 1902

Entries linking to mole

miasma(n.)

1660s, "effluvia arising from the ground and floating in the atmosphere, considered to be infectious or injurious to health," from Modern Latin miasma "noxious vapors," from Greek miasma (genitive miasmatos) "stain, pollution, defilement, taint of guilt," from stem of miainein "to pollute," from possible PIE root *mai- (2) "to stain, soil, defile" (source of Old English mal "stain, mark," see mole (n.1)). Earlier form was miasm (1640s), from French miasme. Related: Miasmatic "pertaining to or caused by miasma;" miasmal "containing miasma;" miasmatous "generating miasma."

mold(n.3)

"fine, soft, loose earth," Old English molde "earth, sand, dust, soil; land, country, world," from Proto-Germanic *mulda (source also of Old Frisian molde "earth, soil," Old Norse mold "earth," Middle Dutch moude, Dutch moude, Old High German molta "dust, earth," Gothic mulda "dust"), from PIE root *mele- "to crush, grind." Specifically, since late (Christian) Old English, "the earth of the grave." Also, from c. 1300 as "earth as the substance out of which God made man; the 'dust' to which human flesh returns."

The proper spelling is mold, like gold (which is exactly parallel phonetically); but mould has long been in use, and is still commonly preferred in Great Britain. [Century Dictionary, 1897]