mincer.

Inherited from Old French mincier, of disputed origin. Often purported to be from Vulgar Latin *minūtiāre, a verb based on Latin minūtus, though the phonetic development poses several problems. The proper outcome of Vulgar Latin *minūtiāre is rather the Old French menusier, menuiser (“to reduce to small pieces”), modern French menuiser. Old French mincier, however, more likely derives from Frankish *minnistō (“smaller, finer”) or Frankish *minnisōn (“to make small, make smaller”), thus relating it to Old English ġeminsian (“to reduce, make smaller, lessen”), whence English mince.