maiden

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English maiden, inherited from Old English mæġden (“girl, virgin, maidservant”),^[2][3][4] a diminutive of mæġþ (“virgin, girl, woman”),^[2][3][5] from the diminutive Proto-Germanic *magadīną, also the source of Old High German magatīn,^[4][6][7] built on *magaþs (“maiden, virgin”), which gave Old Saxon magath, Old Frisian maged, magad (modern German Magd, with its diminutive Mädchen), and Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌲𐌰𐌸𐍃 (magaþs, “virgin”).^[7][8][9] It is related to magu (“son, young man”) and 𐌼𐌰𐌲𐌿𐍃 (magus, “boy”);^[4][9] Watkins reconstructs a root Proto-Indo-European *maghu- (“young person of either sex”),^[3][10] also seen in Old Irish mug (“boy, servant”).^[11][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A girl or young unmarried woman, and a virgin: Old English, in Ælfric's Glossary and the laws of Cnut.^[7][2] Barnhart dates mægden to before 971 and the contracted mæden to about 950.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Old English maiden also meant a maidservant, a sense that lasted in regional use.^[7][3] In Middle English it could describe a man who abstained from sex (before 1225),^[7][3] and the shortened form maid arose in the 12th century, the two words then running side by side.^[6][12] The adjective, virgin or unmarried, is from about 1300;^[3] the figurative sense "first, untried", as in a maiden voyage or maiden speech, is from the 1550s.^[3][9] Maiden name is recorded from the 1680s and the racing maiden, a horse that has never won, from 1760.^[3][13] The word also named things: an Edinburgh beheading machine like a guillotine (1565),^[7][3] and in northern English dialect a washerwoman's dolly and a clothes horse.^[7][13] In cricket a maiden is an over in which no runs are scored.^[13][9]

Timeline

• Old English – a girl, a virgin, a maidservant.^[7][3]
• before 1225 – a man who abstains from sex.^[7]
• c. 1300 – adjective: virgin, unmarried.^[3]
• 1550s – adjective: first, untried.^[3]
• 1565 – the Edinburgh beheading machine.^[7]
• 1680s – maiden name.^[3]
• 1760 – of a racehorse that has never won.^[3]
• 1856 – northern English: a clothes horse.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. (archaic or literary) A girl or young unmarried woman; a virgin.
2. (horse racing) A horse that has never won a race.
3. (cricket) A maiden over, in which no runs are scored.
4. (Northern English dialect) A frame for drying clothes, a clothes horse.

Adjective

1. Unmarried: a maiden aunt.
2. First of its kind; untried: the ship's maiden voyage.
3. Not yet used, tested or captured.

Word family

• maidenish
• maidenship
• maidenhair
• handmaiden
• maidenhead
• maidenhood
• maidenliness
• maidenly

Related words

• maid

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
6. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins