maiden
Pronunciation
- /ˈmeɪdən/[1]
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
- (archaic or literary) A girl or young unmarried woman; a virgin.
- (horse racing) A horse that has never won a race.
- (cricket) A maiden over, in which no runs are scored.
- (Northern English dialect) A frame for drying clothes, a clothes horse.
Adjective
- Unmarried: a maiden aunt.
- First of its kind; untried: the ship's maiden voyage.
- Not yet used, tested or captured.
Word family
- maidenish
- maidenship
- maidenhair
- handmaiden
- maidenhead
- maidenhood
- maidenliness
- maidenly
Related words
References
- ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
- ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
- ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
- ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins