An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Metze
Metze (1.), masculine, from the equivalent Middle High German steinmętze, Old High German steinmęzzo, masculine, ‘stone cutter’; also once in Old High German steinmeizzo, which is clearly connected with Old High German meiȥȥan, ‘to hew,’ mentioned under Meißel. But whether Old High German steinmęzzo originated in steinmeizzo, or whether Metze, Gothic *matja (compare French maçon, ‘mason, bricklayer’) is connected with the root mat, ‘to hew’ (Anglo-Saxon and English mattock), remains obscure.
Metze (2.), feminine, ‘corn measure, peck,’ from Middle High German mëzze, Old High German mëzzo, masculine, ‘small dry measure.’ Teutonic ë results from the Bavarian and Alemannian pronunciation. This word, like Gothic mitaþs, ‘measure’ (about 18 bush.), is connected with the Teutonic root met, ‘to measure’; Anglo-Saxon mitta, ‘corn measure,’ is also equivalent to Old High German mëzzo. The masculine is still the gender in Upper German, the feminine seems to be of Middle German and Low German origin. To the pre-Teutonic root mod (med) belongs Latin modius, ‘peck,’ which (see Pfund and Münze) before the Old High German period passed into West Teutonic; compare Old Saxon muddi, Old High German mutti, Middle High German mütte, ‘bushel.’
Metze (3.) feminine, ‘prostitute,’ from Middle High German metze, feminine, which is “literally a pet name for Mathilda, then ‘a girl of the lower class,’ often with the accessory notion of a loose life.” For other abbreviated forms with the suffix tz or z used as pet names, compare Fritz and Kunz.