*mādu

Reconstruction

Wiktionary reconstructs a noun *mādu "meadow, clearing" for Proto-West Germanic.^[1] It continues inherited from Proto-Germanic *mēdwō (“meadow”),^[2][3] to which Kroonen traces Old English mǣd, Old Frisian mēde and Old Dutch māda "pasture, meadow".^[2] Köbler lists the Proto-Germanic word under the variants *maþwō, *madwō, *mēþwō and *mēdwō,^[4] and Wiktionary gives *mēþwō as an alternative reconstruction.^[3]

Morphology

A feminine noun: Köbler classes Old English mǣd as a strong wō-stem and Old Frisian mēde as a strong ō-stem,^[5][6] and ONW has Old Dutch māda as a feminine.^[7] Kroonen relates the word to the to-stem *mēþa- "mowing, mown grass", which was formed to the strong verb *mēan- "to mow".^[2]

Evidence

The noun is attested in Old English as mǣd, also mēd,^[5] and in Old Frisian as mēde, also mēd, "meadow, hayland".^[8] Old Dutch has māda only as an element of place names, first recorded in 1041.^[7] ONW counts the place-name forms with ⟨-ē-⟩ and ⟨-ie-⟩, found in Zealand and Flanders, as North Sea Germanic.^[7] For the Middle High German words mate and matte "meadow" Kroonen sets up a separate preform *madwō-.^[2]

Competing analyses

Kroonen holds that *mēdwō-, behind the Old English, Old Frisian and Old Dutch words, and *madwō-, behind the Middle High German ones, very probably split off from a single ablauting paradigm.^[2] Wiktionary follows him in reconstructing a Proto-Germanic noun *mēdwō, *madwō, which it calls ablauting.^[1]

Meanings

1. meadow, clearing^[1]

ONW glosses the Old Dutch word as land for mowing, pasture, hayland,^[7] and Old Frisian used it for "meadow, hayland".^[8]

Reflexes

• Old English: mǣd (“meadow, pasture”)^[5]
• Old Frisian: mēde (“meadow, hayland”)^[8]
• Old Dutch: māda (“meadow, hayland”), in place names^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *mādu
2. ^ a b c d e Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 367
3. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *mēdwō
4. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *maþwō
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. mǣd
6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altfriesisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. mēde
7. ^ a b c d e Oudnederlands Woordenboek (2009–), Instituut voor de Nederlandse Taal, Leiden; gtb.ivdnt.org, p. s.v. māda
8. ^ a b c Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. mēde