Etymologically
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midwife

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈmɪd.waɪf/, /ˈmɪd.(w)ɪf/[1]

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

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