myn

Etymology

Respelling of men based on womyn, which was itself respelled so as to be spelled differently from men.

Noun

myn pl (plural only)

1. (very rare, chiefly humorous) Alternative spelling of men (plural of man)
   • 1994, John Leo, Two Steps Ahead of the Thought Police →ISBN, page 41:

     Old Yeller — Senior animal companion of color.

     Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs — One of the monocultural oppressed womyn confronts the vertically challenged.

     Men at Arms — The myn are at it again.

   • 2000 April, Out, volume 8, number 10, page 54:

     […] the 12th Gulf Coast Womyn's Festival is here. (Once again, myn are strictly forbidden.) The weekend-long event holds the promise of craft markets, acoustic folk sing-alongs, and Southern-food potlucks.

   • 2005, Lisa Lees, Fragments of Gender →ISBN, page 30:

     I do not expect to be included in all 'womyn space' (nor, truth be told, do I wish to be). But if the choice is between womyn space and myn space, I sure as heck do not belong in the latter.

Anagrams

• -nym, nym

Etymology

From Dutch mijn, from Middle Dutch mine, from Old French mine, from Late Latin mina, from Gaulish, from Proto-Celtic *mēnis (“ore, metal”). Some senses were borrowed in Dutch from French mine (“explosive device”) and Middle French mine (“tunnel for sapping”).

Noun

myn (plural myne, diminutive myntjie)

1. mine (place or tunnel for the excavation of mineral resources)
2. mine (hidden device that explodes when triggered)
3. mine (tunnel used for sapping enemy defence works or lines)

Determiner

myn (subjective pronoun I)

1. Alternative form of min

Pronoun

myn (subjective I)

1. Alternative form of min

References

• “min, (pron.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 6 May 2018.

Pronoun

myn

1. (possessive) my