midwife

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English midwif, also medwif and midewif,^[2][3] probably formed from Middle English mid (“with”) + wif (“woman”),^{[4][5][6][7][8]} so that a midwife was a woman who is with the mother at the birth.^{[4][7][9][10]} The first element is the old preposition mid, meaning with, and is not connected with middle;^[9][11] it is from Old English mid (“with”),^[6][12][13] cognate with German mit, Dutch met, Swedish med and Danish med,^[9] Old Norse með and Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌸 (miþ),^[12][13] and with Ancient Greek μετά (metá, “among, with, after”), the source of meta-.^[12][11] The second is wīf (“woman”), the source of wife, here in its original sense "woman".^{[6][9][11][12]} The OED compares the archaic German Beifrau (“female assistant, midwife's assistant”), formed in the same way.^[4][5] The MED derives the first element from the adjective mid;^[2] the OED mentions an explanation as a woman who mediates between mother and baby, but thinks it less likely.^[4] The Middle English spellings with med- may show the influence of Latin medius (“mediator”) or of words such as mediator and mediate,^[2][8][4] and partly a folk etymology as if from meed and wife;^[4] older Scots spellings with mad- and maid- were reinterpreted as if from maid.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A woman who helps women in childbirth: about 1300, in the life of Saint Edmund Rich in the South English Legendary.^[4] Etymonline also dates it to about 1300,^[5] and Barnhart finds it probably before 1300, in Arthour and Merlin.^[8] In Middle English it could also name a saint who helps women in childbirth, Mary Magdalene.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its first meaning, though in recent times it names a trained and qualified medical professional, and rarely a man.^[4][14] Figurative use, of a person or thing that helps to bring something into being, began with Shakespeare's Richard II (1597).^[4][15] A verb was formed from the noun: Tyndale used it in 1530 of acting as midwife to a mother, a sense that died out after 1674; it meant delivering a child or a young animal from 1653, and helping to bring a work or an idea into being from 1638.^[4][15] The derivative midwifery is recorded from the 15th century.^[7] Johnson (1755) reported Skinner's and Junius's derivation from mid or meed, a reward, and wif.^[16] In Ayrshire, a midwife-gallop was a full gallop.^[17]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – a woman who assists women in childbirth.^[4][5]
• 1530 – verb, to act as midwife to a mother (obsolete by 1674).^[4]
• 1596 – of a man thought to behave like a woman (obsolete, rare).^[4]
• 1597 – figurative, a person or thing that helps bring something into being.^[4]
• 1638 – verb, to help bring something into being or into public view.^[4][15]
• 1653 – verb, to deliver a foal, calf or child.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person, traditionally a woman, trained to help women in childbirth and to care for them before and after the birth: The midwife stayed with her through the night.^[18][15][4]
2. A person or thing that helps to bring something into being: The crisis was the midwife of a new party.^[15][4][14]

Verb

1. To help deliver a baby or a young animal.^[15][4][14]
2. To help bring something into being or about: The two firms midwifed the merger.^[15][4][14]

Word family

• midwifery
• midwife toad

Related words

• wife
• meta-

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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)
3. ^ Mayhew, A. L.; Skeat, Walter W. (1888), A Concise Dictionary of Middle English from A.D. 1150 to 1580, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
13. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
14. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
16. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
17. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
18. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins