An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Mühle

by Friedrich Kluge

Mühle, feminine, from the equivalent Middle High German mül (müle), Old High German mulî, mulîn, feminine, ‘mill’; compare Anglo-Saxon myln, English mill, Old Icelandic mylna (derived from English), feminine, ‘mill.’ Hardly a Teutonic derivative of the root mal, discussed under mahlen; it is rather borrowed from common Romance môlina, ‘mill’ (for classical Latin mola); compare Italian mulino, French moulin, ‘mill’ (Dutch molen, Old Irish mulen, and Slavonic mŭlinŭ. The formation of an Old Teutonic *mulînô with a suffix -înô has no parallels in Teutonic. The genuine Teutonic word for ‘mill’ is preserved in Gothic qaírnus, Anglo-Saxon cweorn, Old High German quirn.