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MALL (1),
a large wooden hammer or beetle. (F.,—L.)
Prob. obsolete. It occurs in the Spectator, no. 195, near the
beginning; and in Spenser, F. Q. i. 7. 51. M.E. malle; spelt mealle
in O. Eng. Homilies, ed. Morris, i. 253, l. 12; melle, Hampole, Pricke of
Conscience, 6572.—O.F. (and
F.) mail, 'a mall, mallet, or beetle;' Cot.—Lat.
malleum, acc. of malleus, a hammer. [The vowel a
in the E. word is perhaps due to a knowledge of the Lat. form.] β.
The Lat. malleus is prob. to be derived from the ✔MAL = MAR, to crush,
grind, pound; cf. Icel. mjölnir, i.e. the crusher, the name given to Thor's
hammer; see Max Müller, Lect. on Language, Series ii. lect. 7, note
34. And cf. Russ. molot’, a hammer, molote, to grind.
Der. mall (2), q.v.; mall-e-able, q.v.,
mall-et, q.v. MALL
(2), the name of a public
walk. (F.,—L.) Preserved in the name of the street
called Pall Mall, and in The Mall in St. James's Park. In
Pope, Rape of the Lock, v. 133. 'To walk in the Mall;'
Parsons, Wapping Old Stairs, l. 9. Named from O.F. pale-maille,
'a game wherein a round box bowle is with a mallet struck through a high arch of
iron,' &c. [i.e. the game imitated in mod. croquet]; Cot. A
representation of the game is given in Knight's Old England, vol. ii. fig. 2152.—O.
Ital. palamaglio, 'a stick with a mallet at one end to play at a wooden
ball with; also, the name of such a game;' Florio. Better spelt pallamaglio,
as in Meadows' Dict. Lit. 'a ball-mallet' or 'ball-mall.'—Ital.
palla, a ball; and maglio (= F. mail), a mace, mall,
hammer. β. A hybrid word; from O.H.G. pallá,
pallo (M.H.G. balle, G. ball), a ball, cognate with E. Ball, q.v.; and Lat.
malleum, acc. of malleus, a
hammer; see Mall (1). ¶ See my note to P. Plowman, C. xix. 34.
[†] ADDENDA MALL
(2). The full form pall-mall is not (F.,—L.),
as stated inadvertently, but (F.,—Ital.,—O.H.G.
and L.); however, mall is (F.,—L.).
See N. and Q. 6 S. vi. 29, where Dr. Chance shews that it means, literally,
'mallet-ball' or 'mall-ball;' cf. E. foot-ball. Prob. so
called to distinguish it from an earlier game of palla, or
ball. It also appears that the Mall was a later name than Pall
Mall, being a mere abbreviation. Paille-maille is
mentioned as the name of a game as early as abt. 1641; see Eng. Garner, vi.
283. Waller speaks of the Mall in his poem On St. James's
Park. ➩
We may note that Weigand, s.v. Ball, derives Ital. palla from Gk.
πάλλα, contrary to Diez and
Scheler.
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