Middle English mēten, from Old English metan "to find, find out; fall in with, encounter, come into the same place with; obtain," from Proto-Germanic *motjanan (source also of Old Norse mæta, Old Frisian meta, Old Saxon motian "to meet," Gothic gamotijan), from PIE root *mod- "to meet, assemble." Related to Old English gemot "meeting."
By c. 1300, of things, "to come into physical contact with, join by touching or uniting with;" also, of persons, "come together by approaching from the opposite direction; come into collision with, combat." Abstractly, "to come upon, encounter (as in meet with approval, meet one's destiny) by late 14c. Sense of "come into conformity with, be or act in agreement with" (as in meet expectations) is by 1690s.
Intransitive sense, of people, "to come together" is from mid-14c.; of members of an organized body or society, "to assemble," by 1520s. Related: Met; meeting. To meet (someone) halfway in the figurative sense "make mutual and equal concessions to" is from 1620s. Well met as a salutation of compliment is by mid-15c.
c. 1300, mēte, "having the right shape or size," from Old English gemæte, Anglian *gemete, "suitable, having the same dimensions," from Proto-Germanic *ga-mætijaz (source also of Old Norse mætr, Old High German gimagi, German gemäß "suitable"), from collective prefix *ga- + PIE root *med- "take appropriate measures." The formation is the same as that of commensurate. Meaning "proper, appropriate" is from early 14c.; that of "fit (to do something)" is from late 14c.
The mountain sheep are sweeter,
But the valley sheep are fatter;
We therefore deem'd it meeter
To carry off the latter.
[Thomas Love Peacock, from "The War-song of Dinas Vawr"]
1831 in the sporting sense, "a gathering of huntsmen for fox-hunting," from meet (v.). Later of bicyclists gathering for a ride, etc.
"an action of coming together," Old English meting "assembly," verbal noun from meet (v.). Specific meaning "gathering of people for discussion, etc." is from 1510s. In 17c., in England and Ireland it was applied generally to worship assemblies of nonconformists, but this now is retained mostly by Quakers. In the early U.S., especially in rural districts, it was applied to any assemblage for religious worship.
also help-meet, a ghost word from the 1611 "King James" translation of the Bible, in which it was at first a two-word noun-adjective phrase translating Latin adjutorium simile sibi [Genesis ii.18] as "an help meet for him," and meaning literally "a helper like himself."
Robert Alter ("The Five Books of Moses," 2004) suggests sustainer beside him as the closest possible in English to the original:
The Hebrew 'ezer kenegdo (King James Version "help meet") is notoriously difficult to translate. The second term means "alongside him," "opposite him," "a counterpart to him." "Help" is too weak because it suggests a mere auxiliary function, whereas 'ezer elsewhere connotes active intervention on behalf of someone, especially in military contexts, as often in Psalms. ["Five Books of Moses," footnote to Gen. ii.18].
See help (n.) + meet (adj.) "proper, appropriate," also "fit (to do something)." By 1670s it was hyphenated, help-meet, and mistaken for a modified noun. Compare helpmate.
early 12c., shortened from Old English gemot "meeting, formal assembly" (especially of freemen, to discuss community affairs or mete justice), "society, assembly, council," from Proto-Germanic *ga-motan (compare Old Low Frankish muot "encounter," Middle Dutch moet, Middle High German muoz), from collective prefix *ga- + *motan, from a root *mod- "to meet, assemble" (compare meet (v.)).
Compare witenagemot; also Middle English moot-hall, "hall used as administrative headquarters or a court of law" (c. 1300). In early 15c., awful moot was "the Last Judgment."
1550s, "tribute paid to men allied with criminals as protection against pillage, etc.," from black (adj.) + Middle English male "rent, tribute." This is from Old English mal "lawsuit, terms, bargaining, agreement," from Old Norse mal "speech, agreement;" related to Old English mæðel "meeting, council," mæl "speech," Gothic maþl "meeting place," from Proto-Germanic *mathla-, from PIE *mod- "to meet, assemble" (see meet (v.)).
The word comes from the freebooting clan chieftains who ran protection rackets against farmers in Scotland and northern England. The custom persisted until mid-18c. Black from the evil of the practice. The sense expanded by 1826 to mean any extortion by means of intimidation, especially by threat of exposure or scandal. Compare silver mail "rent paid in money" (1590s); buttock-mail (Scottish, 1530s) "fine imposed for fornication."
1520s, "meet, meet in argument," from French occurrer "happen unexpectedly" or directly from Latin occurrere "run to meet, run against, befall, present itself," from ob "against, toward" (see ob-) + currere "to run" (from PIE root *kers- "to run"). Sense development is from "meet" to "present itself" to "appear" to "happen" ("present itself in the course of events"). Meaning "to come into one's mind" is from 1620s. Related: Occurred; occurring.
past tense and past participle of meet (v.). Old English long vowels tended to shorten before many consonant clusters. Hence meet/met (earlier mette), five/fifteen, house/husband, break/breakfast.
