What Does Mitt Mean?

by Bernadine B. Racoma

Mitt Romney speaking at the 2012 CPAC

Looking at an English language dictionary, the word mitt is defined as a “glove with only two compartments.” One of the compartments is used for the thumb while the other is for the other four fingers. It is also the term that refers to the glove used by baseball players. Mitt is sometimes used as slang for “fist.” In a scientific point of view, a mitt is the prehensile extremity, like a paw, a manus or a hand of the eminent or greater limb. Prehensile translates to something that is specially adapted to grasping or wrapping around an object. Mitt is related to the Latin word moiety. Moiety on the other hand is a noun related to the literary or the law, and translates to “half” or the two parts of something. The word moiety is derived from the Latin word “medietas,” which in turn came from the word “medius” that means middle.

But while the preceding description refers to the technical aspect of the word Mitt, what we are after is the meaning behind the name Mitt.

Behind the name

According to books on baby names, Mitt is the diminutive or shortened form of the name Milton. The books also list the origin of the name as American. However, in other books, it is also said that the first name Milton, which is given mostly to boys, came from a surname that could be traced to names given to Old English places. It refers to the Old English place-name called Myletūn, which is a compound word from “mill,” which translates to mylen and “town” or “settlement” that translates to tūn. Myletūn in turn came from another Old English word, Middeltūn, which is combination of the words “middle” or middle and “tūn” that could be translated to enclosure or village that is situated in the middle of two settlements.

John, Mary and Muhammad in Different Languages

If your parents named you John, don't be surprised that in France people will call you Jean. Or if you find yourself in Spain, an abuela (grandmother) may refer to you as Juan. Women with names like Mariska, Mariah and Mary owe their names to a Hebrew name. Muhammad, the most popular name in the world, has many different spellings in different languages. Fascinating, isn't it?

Most of the given names today originated from Latin, Greek, Hebrew or Arabic names. Throughout human history, given names have changed from one location to another. As people moved across lands and over seas due to migration, war or a multitude of other reasons, they brought with them their given names that came from their original mother tongues. The locals in their new communities must have spoken a dialect or language different from theirs. So when their names were adopted in these new settings, their original given names were changed in order to fit the local language or dialect better.