mösse
See also: mosse
Central Franconian
Alternative forms
- mosse, moße (Ripuarian; older forms)
- misse, mieße, muße, moße (Moselle Franconian)
Etymology
From Old High German muozan, from Proto-Germanic *mōtaną. The now predominant Ripuarian form with -ö- is influenced by German müssen.
The past tense mot- is peculiar. It has replaced the expected forms, which in the singular would have become homophonous with the respective present forms (*moss, *moß). Original -st- seems to have been irregularly reduced to -t-. However, the pronunciation /mɔːt/ alongside /moːt/ hints at an influence by (regularly explainable) past tense forms of mugge, müjje (“may; to like”). The two verbs can be semantically close in negation; compare English I must not ≈ I may not.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈmøsə/
Verb
mösse (third-person singular present moss, past tense mot, past participle jemot or jemoss)
- (Ripuarian, auxiliary) must; to have to; should
- Du moss dich ens wäsche, du rüchs e bessje.
- You should wash yourself, you have a bit of a smell.