German words from Middle High German
799 German words with Middle High German in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages (page 8).
Liebe
It is inherited from Middle High German liebe, inherited from Old High German liubī, an abstract noun formed only in German from the adjective lieb (“dear”), liob. A form lioba appears beside it…
Lied
It is inherited from Middle High German liet, inherited from Old High German liod, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *leuþ (“song”), inherited from Proto-Germanic *leuþą (“song, lay”). Kluge…
liegen
It is inherited from Middle High German ligen, inherited from Old High German liggen, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *liggjan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *ligjaną (“to lie”). The same strong…
Linie
It is inherited from Middle High German linie, borrowed from Latin līnea (“linen thread, string; line”), the noun use of the feminine of līneus (“of flax, linen”), from līnum (“flax; thread”). In…
links
It is inherited from Middle High German linkes, originally the genitive singular of linc (“left; awkward”), the ancestor of link; the adverb is recorded from the 15th century. Of this family only…
lösen
It is inherited from Middle High German lœsen, inherited from Old High German lōsen, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *lausijan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *lausijaną (“to make loose, set…
Lösung
It is inherited from Middle High German lœsunge (also lōsunge), inherited from Old High German lōsunga (“redemption, ransom”), the noun of lösen with -ung. Wiktionary traces it further to Proto-West…
Luft
It is inherited from Middle High German luft, inherited from Old High German luft, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *luftu, inherited from Proto-Germanic *luftuz (“air”). The same word is Gothic…
machen
It is inherited from Middle High German machen, inherited from Old High German mahhōn, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *makōn, a weak verb found only in West Germanic. The same word is Old Saxon…
Macht
It is inherited from Middle High German maht, inherited from Old High German maht, inherited from Proto-Germanic *mahtiz (“might, power”). The same word is Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌷𐍄𐍃 (mahts), Old English meaht or…
Mai
It is inherited from Middle High German meie, inherited from Old High German meio, borrowed from Latin Māius (“May”), short for mēnsis Māius (“the month of May”). Kluge and the EWA explain the Latin…
mal
It is a shortening of einmal, which was itself formed in the 16th century from the accusative phrase meaning “one time”, with the noun Mal “point in time”. The multiplication sense comes directly…
Mal
1. The noun meaning “time” is inherited from Middle High German māl, inherited from Old High German māl (“point in time”), inherited from Proto-West Germanic *māl, inherited from Proto-Germanic…
man
It is inherited from Middle High German man, inherited from Old High German man, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *mann, inherited from Proto-Germanic *mann- (“person”): the nominative singular of…
manch
It is inherited from Middle High German manec, inherited from Old High German manag (“many a, much”), inherited from Proto-Germanic *managaz (“many”). The same word is Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌽𐌰𐌲𐍃 (manags, “much…
Mann
It is inherited from Middle High German man, inherited from Old High German man, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *mann, inherited from Proto-Germanic *mann- (“man, person”). Kluge sets up an…
Mannschaft
It is inherited from Middle High German manschaft, a derivative from German Mann + -schaft. Wiktionary reconstructs the formation as Proto-West Germanic *mannskapi (“humanness, humanity”) and…
Markt
It is inherited from Middle High German market, inherited from Old High German markāt, borrowed from Late Latin marcātus, a variant of Latin mercātus (“trade, purchase, market”), a noun from mercor…
März
It is inherited from Middle High German merze, inherited from Old High German merzo, borrowed from Latin Mārtius (“(month) of Mars”), the month dedicated to the war god Mārs, which was the first…
mehr
It is inherited from Middle High German mēr, mēre, inherited from Old High German mēro, mēr, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *maiʀō, inherited from Proto-Germanic *maizô, the comparative of viel…
mein
It is inherited from Middle High German mīn, inherited from Old High German mīn, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *mīn, inherited from Proto-Germanic *mīnaz (“my, mine”). The same word is Gothic…
meinen
It is inherited from Middle High German meinen, inherited from Old High German meinen, inherited from Proto-Germanic *mainijaną (“to mean, think”). The verb is found only in West Germanic: the same…
Meinung
It is inherited from Middle High German meinunge, inherited from Old High German meinunga, formed with the suffix -unga from the verb meinen, modern meinen. The same formation is found in Middle Low…
meist
It is inherited from Middle High German meist, inherited from Old High German meist, inherited from Proto-Germanic *maistaz (“most”). The same superlative is Old Saxon mēst, Old Norse mestr, Old…
Meister
It is inherited from Middle High German meister, inherited from Old High German meistar, borrowed from Latin magister (“master, chief, teacher”), borrowed in the 8th century, as was Old English…
melden
It is inherited from Middle High German melden (“to tell, announce, betray”), inherited from Old High German meldōn (“to denounce, betray”), inherited from Proto-West Germanic *melþōn (“to point…
Menge
It is inherited from Middle High German menige, inherited from Old High German managī, inherited from Proto-Germanic *managį̄ (“multitude”). It is an abstract noun formed to the adjective…
Mensch
It is inherited from Middle High German mensche, inherited from Old High German mennisco, mannisco, a noun use of the adjective mennisc (“human”), inherited from Proto-West Germanic *mannisk…
mir
It is inherited from Middle High German mir, inherited from Old High German mir, inherited from Proto-Germanic *miz. The same form is Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐍃 (mis) and Old Norse mér, and Old English mē, Old…
mit
It is inherited from Middle High German mit, inherited from Old High German mit, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *midi, inherited from Proto-Germanic *midi (“with”). The same word is Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌸…
Mitte
It is inherited from Middle High German mitte, inherited from Old High German mittī, inherited from Proto-Germanic *midjǭ (“middle”). Old High German also had a neuter noun mitti, used by Otfrid and…
mitteilen
It is inherited from Middle High German mite teilen “to share something with someone, let someone have something”, formed from German mit- + teilen. The base verb is formed from Teil “part”, which…
Mittel
It is inherited from Middle High German mittel (“middle; means, mediation”), the adjective mittel used as a noun. That adjective is Old High German mittil (“middle”), a derivative of the Germanic…
Mittwoch
It is inherited from Middle High German mittewoche, inherited from Old High German mittawehha, a compound from Old High German mitti (“middle”) + wehha (“week”), that is “the middle of the week”. It…
mögen
It is inherited from Middle High German mügen, inherited from Old High German mugan, also magan, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *magan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *maganą (“to be able”), a…
möglich
It is inherited from Middle High German müglich, also mügelich, formed from German mögen + -lich in the old sense of the verb, “to be able”. Kluge compares the way the phrases for “it can be” and…
Möglichkeit
It is inherited from Middle High German mügelicheit, formed from German möglich + -keit. The adjective möglich, Middle High German mügelich, is recorded from the 13th century and is formed from…
Moment
It is inherited from Middle High German mōmente, a feminine noun, borrowed from Latin mōmentum (“movement; moment”), from moveō (“to move”). Pfeifer leaves open whether the Middle High German word…
Monat
It is inherited from Middle High German mānōt, inherited from Old High German mānōd, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *mānōþ, inherited from Proto-Germanic *mēnōþs. The same word is Gothic 𐌼𐌴𐌽𐍉𐌸𐍃…
Montag
It is inherited from Middle High German mōntac, inherited from Old High German mānetag, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *Mānini dag (“day of the moon”), a loan translation from Latin diēs Lūnae…
morgen
It is inherited from Middle High German morgene, inherited from Old High German morgane, the dative singular of the noun Morgen “morning” used as an adverb, properly “in the morning”. The noun with…
Morgen
It is inherited from Middle High German morgen, inherited from Old High German morgan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *murginaz (“morning”). The same word is Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌲𐌹𐌽𐍃 (maurgins), Old Norse…
Müller
It is inherited from Middle High German müller, inherited from Old High German mulināri, borrowed from Late Latin molīnārius (“miller”), borrowed in the 11th century. The Latin noun belongs to…
Musik
It is inherited from Middle High German mūsic, borrowed from Latin mūsica (“music”), in full ars mūsica, from Ancient Greek μουσική (mousikḗ), short for μουσικὴ τέχνη (mousikḕ tékhnē, “art of the…
müssen
It is inherited from Middle High German müezen, inherited from Old High German muozan, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *mōtan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *mōtaną, a preterite-present verb…
Mutter
It is inherited from Middle High German muoter, inherited from Old High German muoter, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *mōder, inherited from Proto-Germanic *mōdēr (“mother”). The same word is…
nach
It is inherited from Middle High German nāch, inherited from Old High German nāh, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *nāhw, inherited from Proto-Germanic *nēhw (“near”). It was originally the adverb…
Nachfolger
It is inherited from Middle High German nāchvolgære, late nahvolgari, an agent noun formed from German nachfolgen + -er, “one who follows after”.
Nacht
It is inherited from Middle High German naht, inherited from Old High German naht, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *naht, inherited from Proto-Germanic *nahts (“night”). The same word is Gothic…
nah
It is inherited from Middle High German nāch, inherited from Old High German nāh, inherited from Proto-Germanic *nēhwaz (“near”). The same word is Gothic 𐌽𐌴𐍈𐌰 (neƕa, “near”), Old Norse ná- (in…
Nähe
It is inherited from Middle High German næhe, inherited from Old High German nāhī, the abstract noun of nah (Old High German nāh). The adjective goes back to Proto-Germanic *nēhwaz (“near”), also…
Name
It is inherited from Middle High German name, inherited from Old High German namo, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *namō, inherited from Proto-Germanic *namô (“name”). The same word is Gothic…
nämlich
It is inherited from Middle High German nemelīche, also namelīche, the adverb of namelich (“named, known, explicit”), inherited from Old High German namalīh (“important, known”), formed from Old…
Natur
It is inherited from Middle High German natūre, inherited from Old High German natūra, borrowed from Latin nātūra (“birth; nature, character”), from nātus (“born”), the past participle of nāscor…
natürlich
It is inherited from Middle High German natiurlich, inherited from Old High German natūrlīh, formed from Old High German natūra + -līh in Old High German, the base being the noun that became Natur…
neben
It is inherited from Middle High German neben, inherited from Old High German neben, shortened from Middle High German eneben and Old High German ineben. That form grew out of the phrase Old High…
nehmen
It is inherited from Middle High German nemen, inherited from Old High German neman, inherited from Proto-Germanic *nemaną (“to take”), a strong verb. The same word is Gothic 𐌽𐌹𐌼𐌰𐌽 (niman), Old…
nein
It is inherited from Middle High German nein, inherited from Old High German nein, contracted from the negative particle ni (“not”) and the neuter of ein, so that it meant “not one”. The same…
nennen
It is inherited from Middle High German nennen, inherited from Old High German nemnen, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *namnijan, inherited from Proto-Germanic *namnijaną (“to name”), a verb…
neu
It is inherited from Middle High German niuwe, inherited from Old High German niuwi, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *niwi, inherited from Proto-Germanic *niwjaz (“new”). The same word is Gothic…