A miller is a person who operates a mill, a machine to grind a grain (for example corn or wheat) to make

flour Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many culture ...

Milling Milling may refer to: * Milling (minting), forming narrow ridges around the edge of a coin * Milling (grinding), breaking solid materials into smaller pieces by grinding, crushing, or cutting in a mill * Milling (machining), a process of using rota ...

is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surnames, as are their equivalents in other languages around the world (" Melnyk" in Russian, Belorussian & Ukrainian, "

Meunier Meunier is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Christian Meunier (born 1967), French automotive businessman * Claude Meunier (born 1951), Canadian actor and film director * Claude Marie Meunier (1770–1846), French general du ...

" in

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

, "

Müller Müller may refer to: * ''Die schöne Müllerin'' (1823) (sometimes referred to as ''Müllerlieder''; ''Müllerin'' is a female miller) is a song cycle with words by Wilhelm Müller and music by Franz Schubert * Doctor Müller, fictional character ...

" or " Mueller" in German, " Mulder" and " Molenaar" in Dutch, " Molnár" in Hungarian, " Molinero" in Spanish, " Molinaro" or " Molinari" in Italian etc.). Milling existed in

hunter-gatherer A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, ...

communities, and later millers were important to the development of agriculture. The materials ground by millers are often foodstuffs and particularly

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...

. The physical grinding of the food allows for the easier digestion of its

nutrient A nutrient is a substance used by an organism to survive, grow, and reproduce. The requirement for dietary nutrient intake applies to animals, plants, fungi, and protists. Nutrients can be incorporated into cells for metabolic purposes or excret ...

s and saves wear on the teeth. Non-food substances needed in a fine, powdered form, such as building materials, may be processed by a miller.

Quern-stone

The most basic tool for a miller was the quern-stone—simply a large, fixed stone as a base and another movable stone operated by hand, similar to a mortar and pestle. As technology and millstones (the

bedstone Bedstone is a small village and civil parish in south Shropshire, England, close to the border with Herefordshire. The village is approximately from the railway stations at Hopton Heath and Bucknell and is situated just off the B4367 road. Be ...

and rynd) improved, more elaborate machines such as watermills and windmills were developed to do the grinding work. These mills harnessed available energy sources including animal, water, wind, and electrical power. Mills are some of the oldest factories in human history, so factories making other items are sometimes known as mills, for example, cotton mills and

steel mill A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-finish ...

s. These factory workers are also called millers. The rynd in pre-reformation Scotland was often carved on millers' gravestones as a symbol of their trade.

Status

In a traditional rural society, a miller is often wealthier than ordinary peasants, which can lead to jealousy. Millers are often accused of associating with thieves, and were targeted in

bread riots Food riots may occur when there is a shortage and/or unequal food distribution, distribution of food. Causes can be food price rises, harvest failures, incompetent food storage, transport problems, food speculation, hoarding, poisoning of food, o ...

at times of

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, Demographic trap, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. Th ...

. Conversely, millers might be in a stronger position vis-a-vis

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a wa ...

land owners than are ordinary peasants.

Carnival

The traditional carnival held annually in the city of Ivrea, Italy, commemorates a spirited "Mugnaia" (miller's daughter) who supposedly refused to let a local duke exercise his

right of the first night ('right of the lord'), also known as ('right of the first night'), was a supposed legal right in medieval Europe, allowing feudal lords to have sexual relations with subordinate women, in particular, on the wedding nights of the women. A maj ...

, and proceeded to chop the duke's head off and spark a revolution. Whatever the historical validity of the story, it is significant it was the daughter of a miller to whom folk tradition assigned this rebellious role.

Miller's thumb

As an important part of his job, the miller repeatedly takes into his hand samples of the ground meal coming out of the spout in order to feel the quality and character of the product. The miller rubs the grain between his thumb and forefinger. After years of doing this, the miller's thumb changes shape and becomes broad and flattened. This is known as a "miller's thumb". Sayings such as "worth a millerˈs thumb" and "an honest miller hath a golden thumb" refers to the profit the miller makes as a result of this skill. The shape of a miller's thumb is said to have the appearance of the head of a fish. The European bullhead (''Cottus gobio''), a freshwater fish, is commonly called a miller's thumb for this reason.''The Athenaeum'', Issues 375-426 (London, 1835) p. 297

Surname

Miller (also known as Millar) is a common surname derived from the old English surname ''Milleiir''. The name, and its many other variants, can be found widely across Europe in countries like the UK, Ireland, and many other countries across the world.

References