mizë

Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mewH- (“fly, midge”), whence also Old Norse mý (reflecting Proto-Indo-European *méwH-ih₂ ~ *muH-yéh₂-s) and more distantly to Ancient Greek μυῖᾰ (muîă), Latin musca and Proto-Slavic *mùxa (all from Proto-Indo-European *mews-). Suffixed with feminine diminutive suffix -zë.

Although in the modern standard the term consistently means “fly”, its earliest attestation is glossed as “ant”, and judging from its compound derivate terms the term may originally refer to any small insect in general.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmizə/
• Rhymes: -izə

mizë f (plural miza, definite miza, definite plural mizat)

1. fly (technically, Musca)
2. (archaic) ant (Formica)

   Synonyms: mizë dheu, milingonë, thnegël

3. (figurative, derogatory) very small person, animal or thing; runt
4. (figurative, derogatory) worthless or weak person

mizë

1. full, crowded

   Sheshi ishte mizë me njerëz.

   The square was crowded with people.

• “míz/ë,~a”, in FGJSSH: Fjalor i gjuhës së sotme shqipe [Dictionary of the modern Albanian language]‎^[1], 1980, page 1152ab
• Lloshi, Xhevat (2010) “miza”, in Fjalor i emrave të bimëve dhe të kafshëve shqip–latinisht dhe latinisht–shqip (in Albanian), Skopje, Pristina, Tirana: Logos-A, →ISBN, page 224a
• Demiraj, Bardhyl (1997) “míz/ë,-a”, in Albanische Etymologien: Untersuchungen zum albanischen Erbwortschatz [Albanian Etymologies: […]] (Leiden Studies in Indo-European; 7)‎^[2] (in German), Amsterdam, Atlanta: Rodopi, page 270
• Tagliavini, Carlo (1937) “miź”, in L'albanese di Dalmazia. […] (in Italian), Florence: Leo S. Olschki, page 193
• Kristoforidhi, Kostandin (1904) “μίζε̯-α”, in Λεξικὸν τῆς Ἀλβανικῆς γλώσσης [Lexikòn tês Albanikês glṓssēs] (in Greek), Athens, page 244
• Jungg, G. (1895) “miɛ”, in Fialuur i voghel sccȣp e ltinisct [Small Albanian–Italian dictionary], page 192a
• Meyer, G. (1891) “mīzɛ”, in Etymologisches Wörterbuch der albanesischen Sprache [Etymological Dictionary of the Albanian Language] (in German), Strasbourg: Karl J. Trübner, →DOI, page 281
• Rossi, F. (1875) “mìiɛ”, in Vocabolario della lingua epirotica–italiana (in Italian), page 828b
• Bardhi, Frang (1635) Dictionarium Latino Epiroticum (overall work in Latin and Albanian), page 27: “formica — mijɛa”
• Orel, Vladimir E. (1998) “mizë”, in Albanian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden, Boston, Köln: Brill, →ISBN, page 268
• Pokorny, Julius (1959) “2. mū-, mus-”, in Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 752

• IPA^(key): /ˈmi.zɜ/
• Rhymes: -izɜ
• Syllabification: mi‧zë

mizë

1. alternative form of midzë

• Eùgeniusz Gòłąbk (2011) “między”, in Słownik Polsko-Kaszubski / Słowôrz Pòlskò-Kaszëbsczi‎^[3]