By c. 1300, of things, “to come into physical contact with, join by touching or uniting with;” also, of persons, “come together by approaching from the opposite direction; come into collision with, combat.”
It still can mean collision or fight, but the context needs to be very clear. Two armies meeting on the battlefield, for example. Or two hunters met in combat.
In case people are wondering: it’s indeed a german joke.
It’s a pun. “meet” and “hit” are using the same word in german
Come to think of it, that’s a thing in Swedish as well - we could make the pun work there as well:
Två jägare träffades. Båda dog.
Works in Dutch too.
Twee jagers treffen elkaar. Beiden zijn dood.
Båda dog! Båda dog! No Treåt
(I know å is pronounced like “eu” like in Blåhaj. Couldn’t help myself tho)
For it to match Swedish phonetic rules, it would have to be:
Bäd dågg! Bäd dågg! Nåu trit!
That joke used to work in English.
https://www.etymonline.com/word/meet
It still can mean collision or fight, but the context needs to be very clear. Two armies meeting on the battlefield, for example. Or two hunters met in combat.