Origin and history of mealy-mouthed

"a strong liquor made from fermented honey and water," a favorite beverage of England in the Middle Ages, Middle English mede, from Old English medu, from Proto-Germanic *meduz, from PIE root *medhu- "honey, sweet drink."

This root is reconstructed also as the source of Sanskrit madhu "sweet, sweet drink, wine, honey," Greek methy "wine," Old Church Slavonic medu, Lithuanian medus "honey," Old Irish mid, Welsh medd, Breton mez "mead." Germanic cognates include Old Norse mjöðr, Danish mjød, Old Frisian and Middle Dutch mede, Old High German metu, German Met "mead."

The synonymous early Middle English meþeglin yielded Chaucer's hornes ful of meeth.

"the edible part of ground grain;" Middle English mēle, from Old English melu, from Proto-Germanic *melwan "grind" (source also of Old Frisian mele "meal," Old Saxon melo, Middle Dutch mele, Dutch meel, Old High German melo, German Mehl, Old Norse mjöl "meal;" literally "what is ground;" Old Saxon, Old High German, Gothic malan, German mahlen "to grind"), from PIE root *mele- "to crush, grind." The verb form is not found in Old English. Forms with an -a- begin in late Middle English. "Now commonly understood to exclude the product of wheat (this being called FLOUR)" [OED].