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The Learning Kingdom's Cool Word of the Day for April 2, 1999
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mess [n., v. MES]
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A mess is a disorderly, haphazard pile of stuff: "Will you please
clean up this mess?" It can also be a group of people (usually
military) who eat together, the meal they eat, and the place where
they eat it. It is also possible to mess up (make a mistake), mess
around (putter aimlessly) and be a mess (be dirty and untidy).
With all these meanings, what was the original root of the word? It
comes from the Latin missus (a portion of food, a course at a meal),
based on the verb mittere (to send). The idea was that a course of
food was a "sending from the cook."
In the fifteenth century, a mess was also a group of people
(originally mess-mates) who sat together to eat. This usage became
part of military language, and the meaning widened further to include
the room where mess was served to the mess.
The less savory meanings (disorderly pile, dirty, and untidy) are much
more recent. They emerged from the idea that a mess was "a plate of
assorted food, piled up in a disorganized way and without thought."
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