† mounceln.

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman mouncel, muncel, mounsel and Middle French monceau small hill, heap (late 12th cent. in Old French in form moncel ; late 12th cent. in plural as monceaus ; 13th cent. in sense ‘group or company’; French monceau ) < post-classical Latin monticellus small hill (6th cent.), alteration (after classical Latin -ellus -ellus suffix) of classical Latin monticulus monticule n. Compare post-classical Latin moncellus, muncellus a unit of measure of mud or plaster, also a unit of measure of a harvested crop (frequent from 13th cent. in British sources).It is uncertain whether examples such as the following should be taken as showing the Middle English or the Anglo-Norman word:1352 in W. H. St. J. Hope Windsor Castle (1913) I. 164 In xvij mouncels plastri paris emptis tam pro funerariis in Cameris Canonicorum.1386 in L. F. Salzman Building in Eng. (1992) x. 157 [Plaster of Purbik, 12s. the] mouncell. Compare also the following, apparently showing a variant of post-classical Latin moncellus after Anglo-Norman:1348 Exchequer Accts. (Public Rec. Office) 470/18 m.4 Pro iij Mouncellis plastri parissi emptis et expenitis in reparacione parietis dicte noue domus.