This is the first time that the putative connection between May and Mayor has been made. All the etymologicologists say 'mayor' is from the Latin 'major' (ie large, great, powerful etc) but since THOBR claims that Letin comes from English anyway it may be that May- prefixes, ie anything connected with Megalithia, over time came to mean 'large, great, powerful' etc.

As in, the Mayor would be the peer-approved organiser of the biggest date in the megalithic diary, in May? (Beltain)

We may all get laid in May, if the Mayor of the manor has managed correctly?

Mick Harper wrote:This is the first time that the putative connection between May and Mayor has been made. All the etymologicologists say 'mayor' is from the Latin 'major' (ie large, great, powerful etc) but since THOBR claims that Letin comes from English anyway it may be that May- prefixes, ie anything connected with Megalithia, over time came to mean 'large, great, powerful' etc.

May....

cf: Mi
cf: Michael?

St Michael.......

Err St Mick....?

Borry

'We may all get laid in May, if the Mayor of the manor has managed correctly?'

Depends on how many nuts he's gathered perhaps

Perhaps I didn't give it the correct emphasis.

We may all get laid in May, if the Mayor of the manor has managed correctly?

Ah! Poetry. I am now enlightened.

Put a tune to it and it could be taken for the work of Noel Coward.

'We may all get laid in May, if the Mayor of the manor has managed correctly?'

And swoon at the moon in June if the Mayor of the manor could croon a tune quite melodiously

It could be that the confusion with Latin roots is due to May being written as mag, g being both consonant and vowel (see Dan's disquisition on the AEL site). Majesty is the greatest 'may'.

There are all sorts of ramifications, magus, magic, mega as in megalithic....they can't all stem from the goddess Maia, surely an instance of 'explaining' a familiar but mysteriously opaque tradition that somehow survives more or less across the globe.

Magister?
Magistrate?
Master?

We should award ouselves a Master of Arts degree in TME.
(Magister Artium)

Master is pronounced maister in some parts. Then there's muster which is a gathering. And there is might and mighty.

And mony a puckle maks a muckle or even mony a pickle maks a mickel

Of course might could be replaced with may.

This is fun this

TisILeclerc wrote:Of course might could be replaced with may.
This is fun this

You might be right, but might may be seem as less assertive than may.

For once, I defer to our 'Merican cousins, who sometimes pay more attention to the grammar, while us Brits just muddle through (talking proper like wot we were tort).

He may go to the theater tonight (stating the possibility).
He might go to the theater tonight (raising some doubt).

If you are nice to him, he may help you out (the chances are good).
If you are nice to him, he might help you out (but then again, maybe not).

http://afterdeadline.blogs.nytimes.com/ ... ddle/?_r=0

It's a mighty fine distinction.