- milk (n.)
- O.E. meoluc (W.Saxon), milc (Anglian), both related to melcan "to milk." The noun is from P.Gmc. *meluk- (cf. O.N. mjolk, Du. melk, Ger. Milch, Goth. miluks); the verb is from P.Gmc. *melkanan (cf. O.N. mjolka, Du., Ger. melken); both from PIE base *melg- "wiping, stroking," in ref. to the hand motion in milking an animal (cf. Gk. amelgein, L. mulgere, O.C.S. mlesti, Lith. melzu "to milk," O.Ir. melg "milk," Skt. marjati "wipes off"). O.C.S. noun meleko (Rus. moloko, Czech mleko) is considered to be adopted from Germanic. Figurative verbal sense of "exploit for profit" is first found 1526. Milkmaid first attested 1552; milkman "one who sells milk" is recorded from 1589. Milk chocolate is first recorded 1723; milk shake is first recorded 1889, for a variety of creations, but the modern version is only from the 1930s. Milk tooth is attested from 1727. To cry over spilt milk is first attested 1836 in writing of Canadian humorist Thomas C. Haliburton. Milk and honey is from the O.T. phrase describing the richness of the Promised Land.