Etymology Dictionary

AIM,  to endeavour after.  (F.,—L.)   M.E. amen, aimen, eimen, to guess at, to estimate, to intend.   'No mon vpon mold might ayme the number;' Will. of Palerne, 1596, 3819, 3875.   Wyclif has eymeth, Levit. xxvii. 8.   'Gessyn or amyn, estimo, arbitror;' Prompt. Parv. p. 190.   'I ayme, I mente or gesse to hyt a thynge;' Palsgrave.   'After the mesure and eymyng [Lat. æstimationem] of the synne;' Wycl. Levit. v. 18; cf. xxvii. 2, 8.—O.F. aesmer, esmer, to estimate.   Cotgrave has 'esmer, to aime, or levell at; to make an offer to strike, to purpose, determine, intend;' also 'esme, an aime, or levell taken; also, a purpose, intention, determination.'   The s was dropped in English before m just as in blame, from O.F. blasmer, phantom for phantasm, emerald from O.F. esmeralde, ammell (i.e. en-amel) from O.F. esmail (translated by Cotgrave 'ammell or enammell'), &c.   The O.F. esmer = Lat. æstimare, but O.F. aesmer = Lat. adæstimare; yet they may have been confused.   There was also an intermediate form eesmer.   See examples in Bartsch's Chrestomathie Française, 69, 22; 116, 33; 394, 37.—Lat. æstimare, to estimate, perhaps with the prefix ad, to, about.   See Estimate.   Der. aim, sb., aim-less.