2568: Much vs. Mucho Dec 24, 2021

Despite the obvious similarities in form and meaning, it would be wrong to assume that 'much' and the Spanish 'mucho' are unrelated. 'Mucho' is from the Latin 'multus' and while at first glance it might not seem so close, the Portuguese cognate 'muito' provides some context. The English 'much' on the other hand is from the Germanic *mikilaz (great; much), like the Old English 'michel'. The Middle English 'muchel' retained the [l] but this was eventually lost. It is related to the Spanish 'maño', no longer in use, meaning 'big'.