mægden

Forms

mæġden n (strong a-stem; genitive singular mæġdenes, nominative plural mæġdenu)^[1] mǣden, the usual later West Saxon form, with the ⟨g⟩ lost and the vowel lengthened;^[2] Northumbrian has it occasionally in the Lindisfarne gloss.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *magadīn (“young girl”), a diminutive in *-īną of *magaþ (“maiden”).^[1][3] The same diminutive is Old High German magatīn (“girl, young bride”) and Old Frisian meiden (“girl”);^[3] EWA reconstructs a Proto-Germanic form *magađīna-, standing in grammatical alternation with the base noun.^[3][4] The base word, Old English mæġeþ (“maiden, virgin”), continues Proto-Germanic *magaþiz (“girl, maiden”), found in Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌲𐌰𐌸𐍃 (magaþs), Old Saxon magath and Old High German magad.^[5][6] Kroonen and Orel take it as a feminine made to Proto-Germanic *maguz (“boy”);^[5][7] Kroonen mentions the view that its feminine suffix points to a loan from another language, and Orel compares the first part of a Celtic word for a growing girl, Old Irish ingen maccdacht.^[5][7] Köbler derives the base from Proto-Indo-European *magʰoti- (“womanhood”).^[8]

The vowel of the middle syllable was lost after i-umlaut had fronted the first vowel, which is why the stressed vowel shows umlaut before a lost /i/ (from earlier ⟨*magadin⟩).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in King Alfred's translation of the Pastoral Care, in the Hatton manuscript of 890×897: of Shechem and Dinah it says ða wæs his mod gehæft mid ðæm mædene “then his mind was captivated by the maiden”.^[10][11]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller give the meanings “maiden, girl, virgin”, from the girl raised by Christ in Mark (Nis ðis mǣden nā dead ac heō slǣpþ “this girl is not dead but sleeps”) to the Virgin Mary in the Blickling Homilies.^[12] In the laws it is the unmarried woman beside the wife: no one is to force nāðer ne wīf ne mǣden into a marriage she dislikes.^[12][13] Köbler gives “servant girl” and the Latin “puella” and “virgo” it glosses.^[8] In verse it is rare: the poems record it only in Judgment Day II.^[11]

It continued as Middle English maiden, “unmarried woman; girl”, recorded from the twelfth-century homilies, and is now English maiden.^[14][15]

Timeline

• 890×897 – mædene “maiden”, of Dinah, in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[10][11]
• s. x¹ or x²/⁴ – mægdena offrunga “the sacrifice of maidens” in the Old English Orosius.^[16][11]
• s. x³/⁴ – Northumbrian mǣden in the Lindisfarne Gospels gloss.^[17][2]
• s. x ex. – frequent in Ælfric's Catholic Homilies I.^[18][11]
• a1150 – Middle English mædene in a homily on the feast of a virgin.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. a girl, young woman.^[12][19]
2. a virgin, a young unmarried woman.^[12][8]
3. a maid, a female servant.^[8]

Word family

• mæġdenċild
• mæġdenhād
• mæġdenlīċ
• mæġdenmann

Descendants

• Middle English mayden (→ English maiden; Scots maidin)^[1]

Related words

• mæġeþ

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 7.71
3. ^ a b c Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de
4. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
5. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 346
6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. mægeþ
7. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 253
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. mægden
9. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 6.17
10. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 499
11. ^ a b c d e Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
12. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 655
13. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 137
14. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
15. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
16. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 249
17. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 291
18. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 407
19. ^ Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 133