Origin and history of Melvin

 Middle English mēten, from Old English metan "to find, find out; fall in with, encounter, come into the same place with; obtain," from Proto-Germanic *motjanan (source also of Old Norse mæta, Old Frisian meta, Old Saxon motian "to meet," Gothic gamotijan), from PIE root *mod- "to meet, assemble." Related to Old English gemot "meeting."

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." Abstractly, "to come upon, encounter (as in meet with approval, meet one's destiny) by late 14c. Sense of "come into conformity with, be or act in agreement with" (as in meet expectations) is by 1690s.

Intransitive sense, of people, "to come together" is from mid-14c.; of members of an organized body or society, "to assemble," by 1520s. Related: Met; meeting. To meet (someone) halfway in the figurative sense "make mutual and equal concessions to" is from 1620s. Well met as a salutation of compliment is by mid-15c.

"be successful or victorious" in a game, contest, or battle, c. 1300, winnen, a fusion of Old English winnan "to labor, toil, struggle for, work at; contend, fight," and gewinnan "to gain or succeed by struggling, conquer, obtain." Both are from Proto-Germanic *wennanan "to seek to gain," which is reconstructed to be from PIE root *wen- (1) "to desire, strive for," which Boutkan calls "a clearly reconstructable root with different semantic developments," but probably originally "want," hence "try to obtain."

The sense of "exert effort" in early Middle English faded into "earn (things of value) through effort" (c. 1300) but lingers in breadwinner. For sense evolution from "work for" to "obtain," compare get, gain.

Related: Won; winning. The meaning "gain the affection or esteem of" (win friends) is by late 14c., in Middle English you also could win enemies.

Phrase you can't win them all is attested by 1886 in sports-writing, a verbal shrug in reaction to a loss.

The Detroit Baseball Club may win two games out of three with Chicago, but it can't win them all, for Chicago took one to-day. [New York Times, July 9, 1886]

Germanic cognates include Old Saxon winnan, Old Norse vinna, Old Frisian winna, Dutch winnen "to gain, win," Danish vinde "to win," Old High German winnan "to strive, struggle, fight," German gewinnen "to gain, win," Gothic gawinnen "to suffer, toil."