An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Magd

by Friedrich Kluge

Magd, feminine, ‘maid, servant,’ from Middle High German maget (plural męgde), meit, ‘maiden, virgin,’ also ‘bond girl, servant,’ Old High German magad (plural magidi, męgidi), feminine, ‘maiden’; corresponding to Gothic magaþs (wanting in Old Icelandic), Anglo-Saxon mœgþ, Old Saxon magath, feminine; the common Old Teutonic word (unknown only in Scandinavian) for ‘maiden,’ in Old Saxon and Middle High German also with the Modern High German sense ‘maid, servant.’ From these are derived the diminutives (see Küchlein and Schwein), Gothic *magadein, neuter, Old High German magatîn, Middle High German magetîn, neuter, ‘girl,’ Anglo-Saxon maœgden, English maid, maiden (Anglo-Saxon mœgþ, feminine, ‘maiden,’ became obsolete at the beginning of the Middle English period), Gothic magaþs, ‘maiden,’ and its cognates in the other languages are old feminine derivatives from an archaic term, magus, ‘boy, youth’; compare Gothic magus, ‘boy, servant,’ Old Icelandic mǫgr, ‘son,’ Anglo-Saxon mago, ‘son, youth, man, servant.’ To this is allied another feminine derivative, Gothic mawi, Old Icelandic mœ́r (for *magwî, with the loss of a g, see Niere); compare further Anglo-Saxon meówle, ‘girl.’ Teutonic magus, ‘son, boy, servant,’ is equivalent to Old Irish macc, ‘boy, youth, son’ (compare the Irish proper names MacCarthy, &c.).