meal
MEEL · noun
Origin
From Middle English mel, from Old English mǣl ("measure, time, occasion, time for eating"), from Proto-West Germanic *māl, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- ("to measure").
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Journey
The Old English word covered any set time or occasion, with 'time for eating' as just one of its senses; English narrowed that broader idea of a marked occasion down to the specific occasion of eating.
Related words
It's cognate with German Mal ("time") and Mahl ("meal"), and with Swedish mål ("meal") — showing the same split between 'a time' and 'a meal' across Germanic languages. It's also distantly related, through Proto-Indo-European, to Latin mensus and Greek métron ("measure").