the.com/mere
A word so humble it spent centuries apologizing for things that were actually quite large.
means Used to emphasize how small, slight, or insignificant something is — nothing more than what's stated.
from From Latin 'merus,' meaning pure, unmixed, or undiluted — wine 'merum' was wine with no water added. That sense of 'nothing but this and nothing else' is the thread: 'pure' became 'only,' and 'only' shaded into 'a mere trifle.' English picked it up via Old French, and the word that once meant 'absolutely pure' shrank into a word that means 'just barely worth mentioning.'
- second life
- Means lake or pond in old English geography
- latin root
- From merus, meaning pure or unmixed
- sneaky power
- Shrinks anything it touches into apparent triviality
- place names
- Windermere literally means lake-lake-lake from layered languages
- french twist
- In French it spells mother with an accent
windermere — largest lake in england's lake district, 10.5 miles long, major tourist destination
hornsea mere — largest freshwater lake in yorkshire, england, formed as a glacial meltwater lake